PARENTS across Scotland are being let down by a shortage of school inspectors after a sharp drop in their number over the past nine years, it has been claimed.

There are only 66 school inspectors in Scotland compared to 80 when the SNP came to power in 2007, new figures show.

The reduction emerged just weeks after it was revealed that the frequency of school inspections has declined rapidly over the same period with fewer than six per cent of Scotland’s primaries and secondaries checked last year.

The Scottish Conservative Party, which revealed the figures, said it meant thousands of children would go through their full education career without their school ever being assessed.

Education spokeswoman Liz Smith called for the Scottish Government to ensure there were sufficient inspectors to undertake more regular inspections to provide parents with adequate updates on the progress made by their children's school.

She said: "The SNP are letting down parents badly. Not only do we have a decrease in school inspections, but we also find that the number of inspectors is falling.

"Everyone knows that many inspectors have found themselves seconded to do other work in schools during the development stage of the curriculum and this has put unacceptable pressure on the inspection programme.

"This is not good enough and parents across Scotland deserve better. Inspections are vitally important because they provide parents with the necessary information to make informed decisions about where to send their children to school."

Government statistics show there were 491 inspections in 2004/05, but only 148 will be completed in 2015/16 - a drop of some 70 per cent.

Education Scotland, which incorporates HM Inspectorate of Schools, said the drop was partly down to a deliberate move to reduce the burden of inspection on schools and target those that needed help the most.

Inspectors have also been used in recent years to help schools implement the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and the Scottish Government said inspections would increase following the introduction of CfE.

An Education Scotland spokesman said: “Over the past few years, teachers and schools have responded to a huge change in Scotland’s education system as CfE has been implemented.

"During this transition period, Education Scotland made a vital commitment to provide the range of intensive support that schools and teachers required to help ensure the successful implementation of the new curriculum and qualifications.

"Over this period we re-directed some resources from undertaking routine school inspections to providing a range of other intensive support.

"As we move into the next phase of CfE it is timely that we shift the balance from intensive support for implementation to a stronger emphasis on evaluating what is working best and sharing those practices more effectively. That will require us to once again to increase the number of school inspections in the forthcoming years."

School inspections were overhauled in 2010 to reduce stress on teaching staff and increase the involvement of parents.

Under the reforms, the number of inspections were reduced with those schools seen as under-performing made more of a priority.

In addition, inspectors began to focus more on the aspects of a school's performance that were most important in driving up standards, rather than looking at everything they did.

The changes dated from the publication of the Crerar Review in 2007, which looked at scrutiny of public services across Scotland.

The review found most public services backed external scrutiny, but felt it was in danger of becoming a burden and was distracting resources from frontline delivery.

The Scottish Conservatives also want to see the re-establishment of an independent inspectorate. Currently inspectors work for Education Scotland which is also the body that creates curriculum material.