A SENIOR government aide contacted Scotland’s school quango on behalf of ministers urging them to publish a damning inspection report into a local authority.
A senior special adviser to John Swinney contacted Education Scotland in January last year to say the Deputy First Minister was “getting twitchy” about the ongoing delay.
The Education Scotland report highlighted numerous weaknesses in Argyll & Bute Council's delivery of education in the area, with the quango demanding "urgent and sustained action" from those in charge.
However, council's officials had repeatedly challenged both the content of the report, the process by which it was produced and the timetable for its publication.
Education Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, meaning that although it is ultimately accountable to ministers it should operate "independently and impartially".
The organisation's website says this status "safeguards the independence of inspection, review and reporting".
Internal emails released under freedom of information legislation show that Colin McAllister, the Scottish Government's Head of Policy, contacted Education Scotland official Lesley Brown via telephone in January last year.
In a subsequent message to colleagues, Brown stated that she had "just taken a call from Colin McAllister about the Argyll and Bute report”.
During the call, McAllister made her aware that "the DFM is getting twitchy", warning that the local authority were preparing a robust defence of their work.
Mr McAllister said that on this basis “we need to move to publication as soon as we can".
The report was eventually published in March in advance of the local councils elections.
Concerns about the independence of Education Scotland have been raised in recent years, with the EIS teaching union previously describing the organisation as "increasingly politicised".
A spokesman for Education Scotland said: “Education Scotland's status as an executive agency means that we operate independently and impartially.
“We also have strong governance arrangements, which ensure inspection activity is independent and provides reliable and impartial evaluation.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “While the publication of inspection reports is ultimately a matter for Education Scotland, it is entirely appropriate for ministers to press for timely publication in the public interest, given that significant issues were raised in the report about the council’s handling of the education of children and young people.”
However, Scottish Labour's education spokesman, Iain Gray, said: “There have been concerns in the past about the independence of Education Scotland from minsters.
“In this case it would appear they published a disputed report under pressure from John Swinney’s special adviser.
“The proximity of local elections in which Argyll schools would be a highly charged issue makes that all the more inappropriate.”
Following the report’s publication, the local MSP, former Education Secretary Mike Russell, called for the resignation of several high-ranking individuals within the local authority.
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