THE annual cost of delivering controversial new standardised tests to Scottish pupils is likely to top £2.5 million sparking a war with cash-strapped councils.

The Scottish Government estimate is considerably more than the amount local authorities currently pay to administer standardised tests purchased from universities in England and comes at a time of severe public funding cutbacks.

The figures are included in a financial memorandum provided by officials on the new National Improvement Framework - which includes plans for testing.

The memo states: "Approximately 230,000 pupils will take the Scottish standardised assessment once per year. Standardised assessments covering both literacy and numeracy are currently available for purchase at a unit cost of around £11 per pupil. Delivering the assessments on this basis would result in a cost of approximately £2.5m per year."

However, officials said the figure should be treated with a "significant degree of caution" because work on the new assessments was ongoing and there were anticipated efficiencies as a result of delivering the assessments on a national scale.

A spokesman for local authority umbrella body Cosla said councils already invested in various forms of assessment - which has been estimated at more than £1m.

He added: "Cosla recognises data is important, but since the Government has not spoken to us on the costs identified, we cannot comment on their accuracy.

"One thing is certain, since this is to be a new duty, we expect Government to fully fund the new assessments. Government has already drastically cut council resources and this would be another burden if not costed accurately and funded in full."

A Scottish Government spokesman said the costs would be met in full.

He said: “The figures outlined are indicative only and based on the cost of purchasing off the shelf assessments.

"Work is still ongoing to agree the specifics of the assessment and Scottish ministers expect to secure cost efficiencies as a result of delivering assessments on a national scale, not least because local authorities will no longer have to purchase their own tools as they currently do.

“The costs for the new assessments will be met by the Scottish Government and work is on-going with local authorities, teachers, parents and other stakeholders to develop a specification for bespoke standardised assessments from 2017-18 onwards.”

Last month, ministers said they had decided not to publish data from the new assessments after significant opposition from teaching unions who argued the information would be used to compile "damaging" league tables comparing schools serving pupils from very different socio-economic backgrounds.

Instead, the Scottish Government will publish the attainment levels pupils have reached in literacy and numeracy under existing Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) benchmarks, which are based on the professional judgement of teachers, backed up by evidence from the new tests.

The standardised tests will be available to schools to assess pupils at a number of key stages in primary school as well as the third year of secondary.

The current debate around the reintroduction of national testing for primary pupils in Scotland dates back to the publication of a survey of literacy in April this year.

The biennial Scottish Survey of Literacy - ironically introduced after the scrapping of national tests - found standards of reading and writing were falling despite the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence, which was expected to raise basic standards.

Meanwhile, a new report found official assessments of four-year-olds in England were "unreliable" and disrupted the early days of school when children should be settling in.

Teachers told researchers the tests, which were brought into some schools in September, distracted them from getting to know their pupils.