A COUNCIL boss faced a grilling today for spending money aimed at cutting the attainment gap in Scottish schools on campus police officers.

Holyrood’s Education Committee heard that some schools in North Ayrshire Council had chosen to spend part of their allocation of pupil equity funding (PEF) on having officers in schools.

The government’s PEF scheme hands funding directly to schools and headteachers to spend on initiatives aimed at closing the poverty-related attainment gap, with £120 million distributed in 2017/18.

Aberlour Child Care Trust’s Martin Canavan questioned the allocation and said it was an illustration of “a real inconsistency around how the understanding of PEF is being interpreted and applied and used by different schools.”

He said the example of campus police officers was one where there was concern.

But John Butcher, executive director of education and youth employment at North Ayrshire Council, defended the decision.

He said the initiative was “breaking down some of the barriers between Police Scotland and local authorities and children and young people.”

Labour MSP Mary Fee said: “I do genuinely struggle to see how having officers in a school can raise attainment.”

Mr Butcher responded: “Campus officers don’t patrol schools is the bottom line. They don’t actually wander about the schools in their uniforms.”

The row erupted after it emerged that SNP reforms to the Scottish curriculum had limited the number of subjects secondary pupils could take for the new National qualification.

Fifty-seven per cent of Scottish secondary schools provide only six courses in S4 – the fourth year of schooling – compared with the traditional eight that were taught under the previous regime.