FOI/202600516149 · FOI · unclear
Scottish Government funding to independent schools: FOI release
Information requested
1. The number of full and partial bursary supported places made available by each mainstream school in the Scottish independent schools sector in each of the last 10 years 2. The total value of the bursary support made available by each mainstream school in the Scottish independent schools sector in each of the last 10 years 3. The total overall value of the bursary support made available by all mainstream schools in the Scottish independent schools sector in each of the last 10 years
Response
Bursaries for independent schools are a matter for the proprietors of each institution. The Scottish Government does not collect this information.
However, with regards to Scottish Government funding to independent schools, you may be interested to see the response to an FOI published in February 2026 which can be found at Scottish Government spend on private schools: FOI release - gov.scot.
To reflect your requested timescale, the table below provides information on the number of supported places available in each of the 10 years and funding provided to St Mary’s Music School for the Aided Places Scheme from 2016-17 to 2019-20. This, together with the additional information set out in the above FoI, represents all funding from Scottish Government to independent schools that was identified in our searches.
Year Funding Number of supported places 2016-17 £1,273,622 Up to 51 2017-18 £1,302,598 Up to 51 2018-19 £1,293,267 Up to 51 2019-20 £1,376,903 Up to 55 2020-21 £1,391,412 Up to 55 2021-22 £1,260,399 Up to 55 2022-23 £1,466,075 Up to 55 2023-24 £1,540,561 Up to 55 2024-25 £1,793,115 Up to 51 2025-26 £2,199,024 Up to 51 Total overall value of support to SMMS £14,896,976
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
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