Scottish Education, like many other institutions, has always been very different from the rest of the U.K. The previous Labour Scottish Executive also spent a large part of its education budget on reducing primary class sizes, and I cannot remember any controversy about it! Unlike England, where children are streamed through Infant and Middle State primary schools, Scotland only has one uniform Primary School system. Several years ago, the DES in England found that InFant/Middle Primary School education was becoming very costly and looked at other alternatives but change never came? The Scottish Executive is surely entitled to spend the Scottish Block as it sees fit, and the funding from the Barnet Formula is the price to be paid for Scotland's inclusion in this unitary state! Scotland also introduced a compulsory State Secondary Education system long before the 1944 Act in England and Wales!

Lachie Todd, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.

Surely English children are already condemned to an inferior education. The proposals to cut class sizes in Scotland are merely showing how poor the eduction system is in England. These moves are to be congratulated.

Trevor, Dublin, Ireland

English taxpayers funding to both the Scots & the Welsh to pay for their national policies & independence should be stopped immediately. They wanted devolution & now they've got it they must pay for their policies. The way that the parliamentarians in Westminster have handled this whole issue beggars belief. England should now have its own Parliament too. English families are having to pay £350 to feed the policies,egos & desires of the Scots & Welsh nationalists. Not only are we shelling out Foriegn Aid by the bank vault full because we're told we should feel guilty that we are the worlds pariah due to our history & are seeking redemption, but also at home the castigation goes on & on. Something has to give & the signals are things are going to get very ugly out there on the streets. People are getting fed up. The Scots & the Welsh are a division of UK PLC. All the UKs wealth belongs to the UK equally & the English division should not be paying more to pay for Scots & Welsh policies

Lynda Plum, London, england

After decades of complaining about "Westminster" ignoring Scotland's particular needs, Scotland has a devolved parliament - the purpose of which is to make decisions in Scotland, reflecting Scotland’s best interests.

If the system in England is 2nd rate then the English should put their own house in order - remembering Scotland always has had a separate education & legal system.

As for the "…Britain would pay for an improvement available only in Scotland…". The Scots are renowned for their prudent fiscal housekeeping, & so long as the Scottish Executive keep within their budget there is nothing to complain about.

Stewart, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Neil, Scotland get a lump sum: just like pocket money. So, the answer, as you surmised, is that if we spend money in one area, we have to save money in another. The Scottish govt merely allocates it's spending priorities from the block grant awarded. There is no extra money being spent on these areas nor are we being bought off. After all, we didn't do Labour any favours at the last election did we?
The real question is why Labour don't have similar spending priorities in England. Make it an issue at the next election.

Charles Addison, Glasgow, Scotland

What I don't understand is where does Scotlsand find the money for all these things? Scotand pays no higher taxes, and the subsidy from westminster should put them financially no better no worse then England. Yet they seem to find cash for these headline grabbing moves. Are they borrowing money? Are they cutting quietly elsewhe? Or is Scotland being bought off with higher subsidy?

Neil Murphy, cromer,

Surely the answer is to get Gordon Brown to agree to such a measure rather than spending money on other useless, short-term means-tested gimmicks. Don't blame the SNP for going ahead with this. Blame Labour for not doing something similar for England!

Stewart Smith, Edinburgh, Scotland

The comment from Blair Gibbs seems to suggest, that without a change in policy, children from both north and south of the border would be condemned to an inferior education. He further implies that any attempt by Scotland to improve on that inferior education would be unfair - if one child is inferior, they should all be inferior? In this, he seems to agree that a reduction in class sizes would lead to improvements in performance.

Perhaps having identified that this is the case, he should devote his energies to pushing for improvements in conditions south of the border, rather than berating those attempting to improve the situation elsewhere.

Charles, Preston, England

This unfairness will only stop when the people of England wake up and demand equality with the Scots, Welsh and and the Northern Irish,

Len Welsh, Grays, England

The comment from Blair Gibbs seems to suggest, that without a change in policy, children from both north and south of the border would be condemned to an inferior education. He further implies that any attempt by Scotland to improve on that inferior education would be unfair - if one child is inferior, they should all be inferior? In this, he seems to agree that a reduction in class sizes would lead to improvements in performance.

Perhaps having identified that this is the case, he should devote his energies to pushing for improvements in conditions south of the border, rather than berating those attempting to improve the situation elsewhere.

Charles, Preston, England