NICOLA Sturgeon has been urged to comply with the will of Holyrood and release a report into Scotland's secondary education system.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie hit out at a "belligerent and secretive 14-year-old government more interested in defending itself than aiding the process of democracy".

The review into Scotland's secondary school system is being led by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

It was due to be published last month, but Deputy First Minister John Swinney previously said it had been delayed until June due to the pandemic.

This means it will be released after the Holyrood election in May. 

However documents obtained by the LibDems previously showed ministers were scheduled to receive a first draft of the report in January. 

Raising the issue at First Minister's Questions, Mr Rennie said it has now been two weeks since a majority of MSPs voted for the OECD report to be published.

He referenced the recent threat of a vote of no confidence in Mr Swinney unless he released the Scottish Government's legal advice in the Alex Salmond saga.

Mr Rennie said: "It should not take a threat to the job of the Deputy First Minister before the Government complies with the will of parliament once again.

"It’s been two weeks since the parliament voted for the OECD education report to be published. 

"The First Minister said we should judge her on her record on education but that can’t be done if such an important report is hidden from the voters at the election.

"The Government already has the report, but the Deputy First Minister has still not released it.

"The First Minister’s belligerence in the parliament on this matter will not aid the debate on the future of our education system.

"Scottish education used to be one of the best in the world but it is now judged as average. That must change for the sake of young people.

"It is becoming an unhealthy habit for the SNP that they ignore the will of parliament to keep important information secret. 

"If the government doesn’t change its stance on the publication of the OECD report we will need to consider the options on how to force them to do so."

The scope of the OECD report was previously widened to include the whole of the Curriculum for Excellence following a vote by opposition parties.

It was commissioned amid concerns over the senior phase of school, including claims of a narrowing in subject choice.

Responding during FMQs, Ms Sturgeon said Mr Rennie was asking the Scottish Government to "dictate to an independent organisation, the OECD no less, what the timetable of the publication of a report that they have been asked to produce should be". 

She added: "If we were to do that, Willie Rennie, I am pretty certain, would be one of the first to be getting to his feet in this chamber saying how outrageous it was that we were intervening in an independent process that we had asked the OECD to undertake."