ARGYLL and Bute Council has been criticised by the Scottish Information Commissioner for not releasing details of exam results at Hermitage Academy.

The commissioner found that the local authority had failed to comply with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act by not releasing the information when it was asked to do so.

According to a report by the commissioner’s head of enforcement, Margaret Keyse, the council was asked by Mrs Jean Robb on August 30 for statistical information regarding exam awards at the school since 2010.

And while the authority provided percentage figures in a spreadsheet in mid-September, it said that it would not provide any further information “in order to avoid the identification of individuals”.

Mrs Robb then asked for a review and was told that data for 2015-16 would not be released until it had been considered by councillors at a meeting on December 8.

Mrs Robb contacted the commissioner in October to say she was not satisfied by the outcome of the council’s review, arguing that the 2015-16 information had been available to the council, and elected councillors, for some time, and that the authority’s governance arrangements should not delay disclosure of the information.

The commissioner decided: “Argyll and Bute Council (the council) failed to comply with Part 1 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) in responding to the information request made by Mrs Robb.

“The information in question was not exempt from disclosure under section 30(c) of FOISA. In refusing to disclose it, the council breached section 1(1) of FOISA.

“The council has disclosed the information to Mrs Robb, so the commissioner does not require the council to take any action in response to this breach.”

Helensburgh Central councillor James Robb told the Advertiser: “This was just one test case relating to the several instances where the council refused parents information on exam results and attainment.

“The culture of secrecy that compounds the problems of the most dysfunctional council in the land has been highlighted yet again.

“The Scottish Information Commissioner has agreed with me that the council were wrong to withhold information on schools performance from parents for over four months.

“The ruling accepted my argument that a dysfunctional and inefficient committee structure does not exempt Argyll and Bute Council from releasing requested information.

“The council’s actions are incomprehensible and damaging. Looking forward, I hope it learns the lesson and the council can become more honest and transparent, but sadly I don’t hold out much hope for that unless things change dramatically.”

The Hermitage results for 2015-16 were eventually discussed by the authority’s community services committee on December 8, and presented to its Helensburgh and Lomond area committee by the school’s head teacher, Geoff Urie, five days later.

In response to the commissioner’s decision, and Councillor Robb’s comments, a spokesperson for the authority said: “Argyll and Bute Council answers around 1,200 freedom of information requests a year on a wide range of our often award-winning services.

“The overwhelming majority of people are satisfied with their response.

“Between April and September this year for example we received nearly 600 enquiries; 98 per cent of people were satisfied with the service they received, evidence of a council intent on working openly and well with our communities.

“In this case the council planned to publicly report information on all schools to a council committee.

“The Information Commissioner found that information on one school should have been issued in advance.

“We are happy to work with the commissioner when there are differing views on FOI responses.”