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A flagship £120 million Scottish Government initiative aimed at raising standards in schools is being used to employ campus police officers, MSPS have been told.

There are now concerns that the cash - which goes directly to headteachers - is not being used “appropriately” after claims it had initially earmarked for raising classroom standards.

Opposition leaders questioned if boosting police numbers is the best use of the cash after Holyrood’s education committee was told yesterday that some North Ayrshire schools spent the cash this way.

The Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) is a central plank of Nicola Sturgeon’s drive to close the “attainment gap” between schools in affluent and less well off parts of the country. Local council have defended their use of the cash.

But Liberal Democrat education spokesman Tavish Scott said his party had “pressed the Scottish Government for six years to introduce pupil equity funding, which was intended to narrow the attainment gap by tackling poverty and deprivation.”

He added: “I am not convinced that diverting funds to increase the numbers of police officers in schools is