CHILDREN’S charities and opposition parties have hit out after millions of pounds earmarked for closing the attainment gap were spent on so-called 'campus cops'.

Research by Aberlour found that nearly £2 million of Pupil Equity Funding has been used to pay for police officers to patrol schools in Glasgow, West Lothian, North Ayrshire, Fife and South Lanarkshire.

The money is supposed to be targeted at closing the attainment gap by "improving the educational outcomes of children affected by poverty". 

Martin Canavan, head of policy at Aberlour, told The Sun that pupils should be “benefitting from the help and support with their learning that this money provides”.

Freedom of information requests by the charity found 91 officers were stationed on school campuses across Scotland as of December 2021 - compared to 71 eight years ago.

Of the £1,985,100 spent since 2018, headteachers in Glasgow are responsible for £1million, including £250,000 in 2020/21 when schools were closed due to Covid.

Mr Canavan said: “Pupil Equity Funding is aimed at helping schools to reduce the poverty related attainment gap.

“Children growing up in poverty and who are furthest from education should benefit from the help and support with their learning that this money provides.

“We know that children and their families thrive when they are able to determine what help and support they need in their lives.

“We are curious about the evidence base showing campus cops can improve children’s learning.

“We remain unclear how children and their families have been involved in decisions about having police in their schools, which is why we continue to ask questions.”

Lib Dem Education spokesman, Willie Rennie said: “This system is supposed to see £1200 given to schools to raise the attainment of each child who needs it. To find huge amounts are instead being diverted to putting cops in corridors is shocking.

“I want to see this money go towards breakfast clubs, extra in-class support and more. That’s how to help give children the best start in life. Instead, the cash that is supposed to support individual learning and development is going towards campus cops. It’s hard to see how that will raise attainment.

“It took Scottish Liberal Democrats years to persuade the SNP to establish this funding for the poorest pupils. Funding was supposed to follow the child. Now we find it's being spent on hiring police to follow the child.”

Scottish Conservative Shadow Education Secretary Oliver Mundell said: “Nicola Sturgeon has completely failed on her promise to close the attainment gap in our schools. With misguided decisions like this, it is little wonder our pupils are not getting the best start in life.

“The First Minister insists education is her top priority, but serious questions have to be answered why this crucial funding has been diverted towards police officers to patrol our schools.

“The Pupil Equity Fund simply hasn’t been delivered to the right places and shamefully it is our poorest pupils who are suffering the most on the SNP’s watch.

“Nobody doubts the important work campus cops do, but Ministers should guarantee that funding designed to close the attainment gap will always be used on furthering children’s development in our schools.”

Glasgow City Council defended the policy. They said campus cops “made an impact as positive influencers”. 

A spokeswoman said: “The decision to embed the officers as a crucial part of the school management team is made by our headteachers and it is an integral part of Glasgow’s successful early intervention policy in helping to build constructive relationships.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are investing a record £1 billion through the Scottish Attainment Challenge in this Parliament to support children and young people impacted by poverty, including £520m of Pupil Equity Funding.

“Schools know their learners best. Headteachers are responsible for using Pupil Equity Funding to enhance, scale and introduce new approaches to tackling the poverty-related attainment gap within the school, across the learning community or in partnership with local services.

“Following feedback from headteachers, we have, for the first time, confirmed school level PEF allocations for each of the next four years. This provides more certainty for headteachers and support longer term planning.”

While the money is issued directly to schools, with headteachers given full autonomy on how to spend it, the Scottish Government recommends that parents and carers, children and young people are “meaningfully involved in the planning process.”

Last year, Holyrood’s Education Children and Young People Committee warned that there was a lack of “robust data” on how PEF was spent. 

In a letter to Education Secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSPs called for “an evaluation framework being put in place in order to allow an assessment to be made of spend on and of any outcomes that follow from that expenditure.”