Scotland’s councils are being forced to spend millions every year fixing school vandalism, according to figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives.
Responses to Freedom of Information requests submitted by the party show that £7,885,539.18 was spent in total over the past five years by those local authorities who responded.
In 2024-25, the repair bill reached £1,865,627.99 – more than double the £803,018.73 spent in 2020-21.
But the true cost is almost certainly far higher, as five councils – including the two biggest, Glasgow and Edinburgh – said they did not hold the data, while Highland failed to respond.
The vandalism figures come amid the rising tide of classroom violence and threatening behaviour from pupils in Scotland’s schools.
Separate international stats indicate that the rate of vandalism in Scottish schools is twice the average among OECD nations.
Shadow education secretary Miles Briggs described the new figures as “shameful” and called for CCTV systems to be used as a deterrent.
Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Miles Briggs said: “The last thing Scotland’s cash-strapped councils need is to squander millions repairing mindless damage to schools.
“This shameful rise in vandalism reflects a wider breakdown in discipline on the SNP’s watch, which has led to growing classroom violence.
“Parents, staff and local taxpayers will rightly be asking why this behaviour is increasing and what measures Nationalist ministers have put in place to prevent vandalism, which is twice as prevalent in Scottish schools compared to the OECD average.
“Schools need effective CCTV systems to act both as a deterrent and a means of identifying and punishing offenders.
“This is yet more evidence of the SNP’s failure to maintain safe learning environments for pupils and teachers.
“Combined with Scotland plummeting in international rankings, broken promises on the attainment gap and escalating violence towards teachers, the Nationalists’ record on education is indefensible.”
Notes to editors:
Councils have spent almost £8 million repairing school vandalism. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, 26 of 32 local authorities recorded £7,885,539.18 in vandalism-related repairs to schools. The true figure is likely to be significantly higher, as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverclyde, Clackmannanshire and North Lanarkshire did not hold the information, and Highland did not respond. (Various Freedom of Information responses, available on request).
The annual cost of vandalism has more than doubled in five years. In 2020-21, councils spent £803,018.73 on repairing vandalism in schools. By 2024-25, this had risen to £1,865,627.99 – a 2.3-fold increase. (Various Freedom of Information responses, available on request).