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Question reference: S6W-43553

Date lodged: 4 February 2026
Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 February 2026

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-34551 by Jenny Gilruth on 6 March 2025, whether it will provide (a) the same information for 2024-25, and (b) real-terms average Additional Support for Learning (ASL) spend per pupil for each year from 2012-13 to 2024-25.

Answer

Spending data on Additional Support for Learning (ASL) is collected from local authorities via the 2024-25 Local Financial Returns (LFR). These figures show that almost £1.1bn was spent on ASL by local authorities in 2024-25.

Local authorities are asked to record all centrally funded ASL expenditure under Special Education, irrespective of where it is delivered. Decisions about prioritisation and budgets, including those for the provision of services for pupils with additional support needs, are a matter for individual councils. It is important to note when making comparisons between local authorities and years that there may be variations in local accounting practices.

Table 1 shows gross revenue expenditure on (ASL) education for 2024-25, split by Pre-Primary, Primary, Secondary and Special Education.

Table 1 – 2024-25 ASL expenditure by Local Authority (£000)

Local Authority	Pre-Primary Education	Primary Education	Secondary Education	Special Education	Total
Aberdeen City	1,063	6,800	7,536	21,184	36,583
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	60,955	60,955
Angus	0	0	0	18,696	18,696
Argyll and Bute	846	5,009	5,710	4,246	15,811
City of Edinburgh	4,722	26,378	15,770	62,006	108,876
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	16,924	16,924
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	26,033	26,033
Dundee City	186	7,688	3,442	11,331	22,647
East Ayrshire	0	0	0	24,729	24,729
East Dunbartonshire	341	2,542	2,070	15,783	20,736
East Lothian	0	3,296	2,330	14,648	20,274
East Renfrewshire	1,035	1,816	1,608	12,895	17,354
Falkirk	0	0	0	31,115	31,115
Fife	0	0	0	50,181	50,181
Glasgow City	6,907	21,452	28,335	103,723	160,417
Highland	0	0	0	52,884	52,884
Inverclyde	0	0	0	17,167	17,167
Midlothian	61	4,103	3,424	21,404	28,992
Moray	0	0	0	21,561	21,561
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	0	6,442	6,442
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	18,675	18,675
North Lanarkshire	245	13,281	5,586	62,367	81,479
Orkney Islands	148	964	1,279	3,900	6,291
Perth and Kinross	686	6,852	5,642	12,982	26,162
Renfrewshire	1,842	6,949	3,848	17,947	30,586
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	15,493	15,493
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	10,204	10,204
South Ayrshire	2	2,831	1,829	19,224	23,886
South Lanarkshire	0	12,285	10,993	35,353	58,631
Stirling	0	1,726	2,954	11,352	16,032
West Dunbartonshire	691	4,594	2,456	14,257	21,998
West Lothian	0	0	0	31,833	31,833
All local authorities	18,775	128,566	104,812	847,494	1,099,647

Source: Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 01) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government: Local government finance statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Table 2 shows the percentage of total gross revenue expenditure on education which was accounted for by spending on additional support for learning in 2024-25.

Table 2 – 2024-25 share of education expenditure accounted for by ASL

Local Authority	ASL Spend as a share of Education Spend
Aberdeen City	13%
Aberdeenshire	14%
Angus	11%
Argyll & Bute	10%
City of Edinburgh	18%
Clackmannanshire	19%
Dumfries & Galloway	12%
Dundee City	11%
East Ayrshire	13%
East Dunbartonshire	10%
East Lothian	13%
East Renfrewshire	10%
Falkirk	13%
Fife	9%
Glasgow City	18%
Highland	14%
Inverclyde	14%
Midlothian	16%
Moray	15%
Na h-Eileanan Siar	10%
North Ayrshire	9%
North Lanarkshire	15%
Orkney Islands	12%
Perth & Kinross	12%
Renfrewshire	11%
Scottish Borders	9%
Shetland Islands	16%
South Ayrshire	14%
South Lanarkshire	12%
Stirling	10%
West Dunbartonshire	15%
West Lothian	11%
All local authorities	13%

Source: Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 01) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government: Local government finance statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

All figures in tables 1 and 2 are based on gross expenditure on a funding basis. This means they have not been adjusted for inter/intra authority transfers.

Table 3 provides total spend per primary and secondary school pupil in 2024-25 at the national level. Rather than focusing on ASL spending alone, this calculation shows total gross revenue expenditure in primary and secondary education from the local financial returns, divided by the number of pupils attending primary and secondary schools recorded in the Pupil Census.

Table 3 – Average spending per pupil (£)

Year	Primary Education	Secondary Education
2024-25	7,880	9,651

Primary and secondary education figures are adjusted to exclude inter-authority transfers. However, this breakdown is not available for ASL spending, therefore ASL figures in Tables 4 and 5 are based on gross expenditure on a funding basis.

Sources:

1.Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 01) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government: Local government finance statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

2.Pupil Census - published annually - for further details go to: Pupil census: supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Table 4 shows average spending on ASL per ASL pupil by local authority in 2024-25. More precisely, this calculation shows gross revenue expenditure on ASL in primary, secondary and special education from the local financial returns, divided by the number of pupils identified as having additional support needs recorded in the Pupil Census.

Table 4 – 2024-25 ASL spending per pupil (£)

Local Authority	ASL Spend per ASL Pupil
Aberdeen City	3,233
Aberdeenshire	3,546
Angus	3,745
Argyll and Bute	3,942
City of Edinburgh	4,195
Clackmannanshire	6,767
Dumfries and Galloway	3,180
Dundee City	2,921
East Ayrshire	4,989
East Dunbartonshire	4,354
East Lothian	3,551
East Renfrewshire	3,202
Falkirk	3,816
Fife	2,724
Glasgow City	4,124
Highland	4,125
Inverclyde	4,292
Midlothian	4,809
Moray	4,385
Na h-Eileanan Siar	5,483
North Ayrshire	2,785
North Lanarkshire	4,743
Orkney Islands	4,930
Perth and Kinross	3,661
Renfrewshire	3,340
Scottish Borders	2,628
Shetland Islands	7,470
South Ayrshire	4,056
South Lanarkshire	3,654
Stirling	3,352
West Dunbartonshire	3,921
West Lothian	2,963
All local authorities	3,804

Sources:

1. Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 01) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government: Local government finance statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

2. Pupil Census – published annually - for further details go to: Pupil census: supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Table 5 provides real terms average spending on ASL per ASL pupil at the national level between 2012-13 and 2024-25. The figure below does not represent all spending benefitting ASL pupils, who also benefit from spending incurred in delivering the wider school system.

Table 5 – Average ASL spend per ASL pupil in real terms (£)

Year	ASL Pupils at Primary, Secondary and Special Schools
2012-13	6,322
2013-14	5,803
2014-15	5,504
2015-16	5,060
2016-17	4,662
2017-18	4,440
2018-19	4,195
2019-20	3,994
2020-21	4,007
2021-22	4,115
2022-23	4,122
2023-24	4,005
2024-25	3,804

ASL spending figures are based on gross expenditure on a funding basis. Note that because figures in Table 5 are based on 2024-25 prices, they are not comparable to the figures based on 2023-24 prices provided in S6W-34551.

Sources:

1.Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 01) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government: Local government finance statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

2.Pupil Census - published annually - for further details go to: Pupil census: supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

3.GDP deflators at market prices: GDP deflators at market prices, and money GDP - GOV.UK.

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