MSPs were urged to back plans for greater ventilation in Scottish schools this afternoon as Labour warned the choice for pupils and teachers cannot be between Covid and comfort this winter.

In a Holyrood debate Scottish Labour said active ventilation measures must be put in place to protect workers, claiming ministers have repeatedly failed to publish information on criteria for their ventilation inspection scheme. 

More than 40,000 of Scotland’s 52,000 classrooms were inspected over a three month period earlier this year, but the government has not set out the pass rate, leading to doubts over how robust the programme is. 

Ministers have been told there is a need for greater measures, with calls for the Scottish government to ensure that local authorities have funding available to install at least two high-efficiency particulate absorbing (HEPA) filters in each classroom in Scotland.

Scottish Labour’s Michael Marra said ministers had had 18 months to come up with a plan for classroom ventilation and action now could prevent further disruption. 

A vote on the binding motion took place after the Star went to press. 

Earlier today, MSPs were told by union representatives there remain concerns about the patchy provision of air quality monitors in Scotland’s classrooms to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. 

Mike Corbett, of the NASUWT teaching union, told Holyrood’s education committee that while one local authority had installed CO₂ monitors in every teaching area, about half of all councils relied on mobile monitors, which can be moved between classrooms.

It comes as the arrival of the Omicron variant of coronavirus has made teachers “more anxious than ever that there should be good ventilation and good air quality in their classrooms.”