NICOLA Sturgeon has defended the Scottish Government's record on education - stressing there has been no attempt to duck scrutiny.

The First Minister was challenged by Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw on the falling exams pass rates over the space of 12 months – but she stressed that more pupils are now leaving school with qualifications.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary John Swinney has pointed to a series of Scottish Government mistakes, rather than an attempt to evade scrutiny, after contentious exam analysis was published at 8pm – after the week’s Holyrood business had concluded.

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When questioned by the Tory leader, Ms Sturgeon said 71.1 per cent of young people left school with an SCQF level five qualification in 2006-07, compared to 85.1 per cent in 2018-19.

On the performance at higher levels, Ms Sturgeon said the number of pupils leaving school with a higher qualification rose from 41.6 per cent to 60.5 per cent in the same period.

She added: "This Government will never shy away from the improvements that need to be made."

But data shows that school leavers obtaining one or more national qualification at Level 4 dropped by 0.3 per cent, there was a 0.8 per cent fall at Level 5 and a 1.7 percent drop at Highers. Those leaving education with at least one Advanced Higher qualification also dropped by 1.1 per cent in the space of a year.

At First Minister’s Questions, Mr Carlaw also took aim at comments made by Mr Swinney on Wednesday, who said changing the system "takes time".

He added: "You've had 13 long years in power, 13 years of failure - how much longer do you and this dreadful Government need?"

The Tories argued that the analysis was issued at 8pm to ensure the Scottish Government could not be held to account for the results of the analysis - which showed drops of up to 10 per cent in the number of passes between higher grades A and C.

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But Ms Sturgeon labelled the row over the publication of exam analysis as “nonsense”.

She added: "The fact that Jackson Carlaw has to talk about all these process issues shows that on the substance, he knows he's in the wrong.

"Scottish education is improving and we will continue to push forward with these improvements.

"Jackson Carlaw may not like it but it's in the interest of pupils the length and breadth of this country."

But Mr Sweeney later told MSPs that mistakes led to release the exam analysis being published so late in the day - and that officials were working to the incorrect deadline to respond to an FOI request for the data.

He said: "It was never our intention to release this as late in the day as ultimately took place.

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"The necessary material for issue was approved at approximately 5.30pm. This is later than would have been ideal, but given the deadline I had been advised of, I proceeded with publication."

He added: "I have subsequently been advised that the statutory deadline was incorrect. It is therefore deeply unfortunate that a series of issues delayed the publication, including issuing a press release until later that same evening.

"I can assure Parliament, however, that we sought to be as timely and as informative as possible with this publication."

Mr Swinney also confirmed that a debate on education is set to take place at Holyrood on March 17.