Despite the Scottish Parliament's Education & Skills Committee publishing a recent report that strongly recommended its support for free music tuition in local authorities, the battle to stop the charges being imposed is still being fought.

Crowdfunding

The latest move is once again being spearheaded by Ralph Riddiough, a partner at Ayr based firm Kilpatrick & Walker who also plays trombone with the Dalmellington Band.

He is seeking secure crowdfunding to mount a legal challenge against the implementation of charges for what is seen as a discretionary service in the majority of Scotland's 32 local authorities.

Ralph believes that it is incorrect to legally class instrumental tuition as discretionary and not a core part of the education curriculum. He feels that the subsequent charges have been applied in contravention of the 1980 Education Scotland Act.

Discretionary

In an on-line article published in 'The Herald' newspaper Ralph is quoted as saying: "The fees turn on the word 'discretionary'. Everyone seems to think that education is only education if local authorities deliver it using the money sent to them by the Scottish Government.

Discretionary really means that local authorities deliver the tuition and they fund it from their own funds. The money used to pay for tutors and the cost of repairing instruments comes from local authorities' own coffers and that's why the word discretionary has come about. That seems to be fair game for fees."

The challenge will be partly based on the recent findings and recommendations of the Education & Skills Committee report entitled; 'A note of concern: The future of instrumental music tuition in schools'.

The report was published by a 11 member cross-party committee who took evidence from a variety of sources; including parents, teachers, students, musicians and a number of different educational sources and interested parties.

The report stated that there was "a lack of clarity" whether charging for instrumental tuition in senior secondary education was legitimate4BR

Lack of clarity

The report stated that there was "a lack of clarity" whether charging for instrumental tuition in senior secondary education was legitimate.

It also recommended that that the Scottish Government clarified the "legal basis for such charges" in line with its view that it believed that "instrumental music tutors should be considered to be part of core education provision."

Ralph plans to launch his fundraising campaign on crowdfunding site CrowdJustice in the coming weeks, with the intention of taking one local authority to court to ask a judge to clarify the position.

"Asking a court to decide what is and what is not education if it isn't delivered in a classroom of 30 kids carries risk, I know,"he said. "But I think the case is strong."