MINISTERS have urged councils to do more to support children in care while they are at school.

The call from Alasdair Allan, the Minister for Learning, comes after figures showed councils failing to provide for children who grow up with foster families or in care homes.

Under 2004 legislation there is a presumption that children in care may have additional support needs and those who do should be assessed for a co-ordinated support plan (CSP).

However, figures gathered by the Glasgow-based Govan Law Centre show of 12,533 looked after children only 6,374 have been assessed for a CSP.

Only 12 per cent of school-leavers from a care background secured one or more Highers in 2013/14 compared to 59 per cent of the rest of the school population.

Mr Allan said: "The legislation is clear. Looked after children are considered to have additional support needs until they are assessed by education authorities and we expect all local authorities to carry out these assessments.

"The assessment should establish if a child has additional support needs and whether a co-ordinated support plan or other plan might assist in overcoming any barriers to learning.

"Most children's needs are well identified and met, but there are some children for whom we can do better and Govan Law Centre's figures reflect this."

Mr Allan said tackling inequality was "at the heart" of the government's agenda and said closing the attainment gap between pupils from the most and least deprived communities was key.

He added: "We will shortly be inviting those working in this area in local authorities to attend an event..... to share what works so that we can ensure good practice is applied everywhere and that statutory responsibilities are met."

Iain Nisbet, head of education law at Govan Law Centre, welcomed the intervention. He added: "These duties have been in force for nearly five years and councils are still failing to live up to their legal duties.

"In fact, we suspect many of those the authorities claim to have assessed have not been given their full legal rights, illustrated best by the total absence of any appeals.

"The system is failing thousands of children right across Scotland, leaving them to the poorer educational outcomes and life chances we know looked after children face."