ALMOST £430 million has been spent on supply teaching in Scottish schools over the past five years, new figures show.

A Freedom of Information request to all 32 councils showed that between 2010 and 2015 £42.9m spent on supply staff.

The figures emerged at a time when councils across the country have warned they are facing shortages of permanent teachers.

Last year, seven local authorities called for a national taskforce to halt shortages including Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, the Highlands and the Western Isles.

There have also been concerns over shortages of specialist teachers in key subjects such as mathematics, physics and computing with Scottish Government targets for training places not being filled.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland teaching union, said the "significant figure" could have been much higher because of a shortage of supply staff.

He added: "There is now a real crisis around supply teaching and there have been many times where supply teachers were unavailable and, in fact, the figure could be even higher if they had filled all the vacancies.

"We have said to councils over the last few years that there is a crisis around supply and they have to look at a different way of approaching the issue."

Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: "It is clear that this is a very substantial amount of money. The cost of supply teaching is expensive, particularly in rural communities, and it can reflect weaknesses in workforce planning for full-time teachers.

"It is this last point which causes the greatest concern. The SNP's record on teacher numbers is very poor. These statistics suggest there is a rising cost of covering for that failure."

However, Cosla, which represents most of Scotland's councils, said supply teachers had a vital role to play in providing cover for absences and staff development.

A spokesman said: "The bottom line is that supply teachers get paid the same as normal teachers and they have a vital role to play in providing cover for absences and staff development.

"We're working with the unions, government and employers to improve the management and availability of supply teachers."

The survey, compiled by radio station LBC, follows a poll earlier this year which found a shortage of supply teachers in Scottish schools was getting significantly worse.

A poll of councils found more than two thirds believed the situation had deteriorated with the shortfall most acute in primary schools, where 20 councils said they had difficulties. Half had problems in secondary.

The survey also uncovered acute problems in some subject areas including sciences and mathematics, home economics, technical studies, computing and business.

The shortage in supply staff stems from a controversial package of cuts agreed by the Scottish Government and council umbrella body Cosla in 2011 which introduced a cut to pay rates for supply teachers as part of wider measures to save £45 million.

The Government said the deal was the best that could have been done and that it protected frontline teaching jobs, but it quickly became apparent that it was leading to shortages as supply staff looked at better paid alternatives.

Since then pay has been increased, but the problem has been exacerbated by more widespread teacher shortages because many in the profession are reaching retirement age.