CHILDREN in Argyll and Bute are being failed by the local council's education service, according to a damning new report.

Education Scotland says Argyll and Bute Council needs to take “urgent and sustained action” to improve its services after four out of five quality indicators were assessed as 'weak' in a report by inspectors.

But in response the council director in charge of education has questioned the “process and outcomes” of the report, which follows an inspection carried out across the council area last September.

Inspector Alistair Brown's report identified four 'weak' areas in the council's education service - the leadership and direction of the service, improvements in performance, the leadership of change and improvement, and the delivery and improvement of the quality of services.

The fifth quality indicator - the impact of the service on children, young people, adult learners and families – was described in the report only as 'satisfactory'.

Ann Marie Knowles, the authority's executive director of community services, said: “We will continue to work with Education Scotland as part of our drive for excellence. However we have concerns about the process and outcomes of this inspection which took place in September last year.”

Dr Bill Maxwell, Scotland's chief inspector of education, said “We welcome the opportunity to work with Argyll and Bute Council as they develop plans to address the areas identified in our report to improve their education provision for the benefit of all young people in their area.”

* Full story in this week's issue of the Helensburgh Advertiser - on sale from Thursday, March 23.