£120m fund to raise school standards is used to recruit extra police

● Concerns over use of flagship initiative ● Money earmarked for attainment gap

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

Martin Canavan, policy and participation officer at Aberlour Child Care Trust, told MSPS yesterday there is “a real inconsistency” around how the understanding of pupil equity funding in different schools.

He told the committee: “Where there is a need to support teachers, to support schools, to recognise what’s happening, then PEF doesn’t necessarily present or provide the best model because it could result in money being spent on things that maybe don’t work, aren’t evidenced to work, and what is essentially a very valuable resource could be otherwise not used as best it could be.”

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

The decision was defended by John Butcher, executive director of education and youth employment at North Ayrshire Council, who acknowledged that some schools in the local authority had chosen to spend part of their PEF funding to purchase some campus officers.

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