NO senior councillors or top officials look likely to fall on their sword following a highly-critical report on Argyll and Bute Council by education inspectors.

But the authority has been warned that it can’t improve the service it provides to local children and their parents by simply relying on the goodwill of its staff.

Two special meetings in Lochgilphead last week considered in detail an Education Scotland report, published last month, which assessed four out of five quality indicators at the council as “weak”, and the fifth as only “satisfactory”.

A motion approved at the second of those meetings highlighted 12 positive aspects of education in the area – all of them mentioned in Education Scotland’s report – and committed the new council, when it is formed after next month’s local elections, to “formalise the senior staffing structure within the service and to create a future permanency within the senior management arrangements for community services”.

At the first of last week’s meetings, however, Margaret Anderson, who represents the Roman Catholic diocese of Argyll and the Isles on the council’s community services committee, suggested that cuts in education – and in particular in the number of school support staff – were directly linked to poor performance.

Mrs Anderson said: “It’s impossible for our officers to do the same job they once did without having enough officers to do it. You can’t just keep improving on people’s goodwill.

“Schools don’t have enough support staff. It’s a responsibility of this council to support our people and our officers as well. You will not get improvement if your staff are so overworked or feeling got at.

“People have to be told that it isn’t possible to provide the same services with fewer people. If people make political decisions to cut things, the public has to know things will be cut.”

Councillors agreed in February 2016 to reduce education spending in 36 separate areas, including cuts in clerical staff numbers and supply teacher cover and the removal of secondary school librarians and attendance officers.

Mrs Anderson asked: “Has the authority looked at the impact of cuts in education services on the delivery of the service and on the attainment of young people?”

The council’s chief executive, Cleland Sneddon, told Mrs Anderson: “Argyll and Bute spends more per capita on education than anywhere else in Scotland, with the exception of the three island authorities.

“But public sector finances are being squeezed. The commitment I would give is that we will continue to look at how best we can invest in our education service within the financial envelope the council has available to it.”

Thursday’s meeting also discussed in detail the criticisms of Education Scotland made by senior council officials – particularly over the contrast between the detail of the inspectors’ report and its conclusions.

Mr Sneddon added: “Our intention is to work really positively with Education Scotland, not get into a confrontational situation.

“There is no merit in us going into a public confrontation with the national inspection agency, but we have been placed in a position where we feel what has been put in the public domain doesn’t reflect the position here.”

Thursday’s special meeting of the community services committee was followed the next day by a special full council meeting, called at the request of ten elected councillors – though not all were present on Friday.

At the latter meeting the council endorsed a motion by education spokesman Rory Colville to note the terms of the Education Scotland report, the council’s response and a draft action plan drawn up in response to the inspectors’ criticisms. Regular reports on the progress of that action plan will also be supplied to the relevant committee in the coming months.