A referendum row has blown up in Angus after a sub-group was set up to “guide” pupils ahead of the independence vote.
It was charged with the task of ensuring “political neutrality” in schools but the only two councillors on the working group were from the SNP.
Among the group’s tasks was to decide exactly what campaign materials from both Yes Scotland and Better Together should be made available to voting-age pupils.
News of the working group’s formation, which happened “several” months ago, was only disclosed to the children and learning committee in an information report.
That sparked anger from LiberalDemocrat David May and Labour councillorMargaret Thomson who said councillors should have been made aware the group was being established.
Mr May said: “In the report we readthat the two councillors who were involved in this working group were two SNPcouncillors.
“As the report is about independenceinformation going to schools it hardly strikes me as a balanced and fair representation.”
SNP councillors Paul Valentine and Sheena Welsh were part of the groupalongside strategic director of people MargoWilliamson, a senior education manager and two secondary head teachers.
The group was established to oversee arrangements across secondary schools related to curriculum provision of political literacy and planning and delivery of related activities.
It was also responsible for collating referendum materials to be put in school libraries to “provide an unbiased view of both the Yes and Better Together campaigns.”
Mr May said: “I was not aware that a group had been set up by the SNP administration.
“We should have been aware that a group was being established on the grounds of openness and transparency.I have no doubt that Councillors Welsh and Valentine will have conducted their roles impartially but it should have included one councillor from each side of the referendum debate.”
Mrs Thomson said it was “undemocratic” that councillors had not been given a chance to nominate and vote for who was on the group.
She said: “I feel strongly that both sides of the referendum debate should have been represented.
“It is important that all dealings about the referendum should be unbiased and should be seen by the public to be unbiased.
“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that our children are getting a totally balanced view.
“Having only SNP members on a working group that nobody knew about might raise some doubts in people’s mind.
“The referendum is a political hot potato and Angus Council must be seen to be totally unbiased in all our dealings in this matter.”
Strategic Director of People, Margo Williamson, said she was not sure that involving other members would have “made any difference.”
“At all times we have tried to ensure that all things are balanced,” she said.“We had strict guidance from government and we also consulted with our legal representatives within the council.
“What we came up with was quite tight guidance for our staff in schools in how they should be behaving around the independence referendum.
“The decision was made that we wanted to give young people access to information and the best way to do that was to provide small packs of reference material.
“The reference material would be kept in the library and accessed only as reference. Councillor Valentine contacted both campaigns to send us the information and we are sorting these two packs to make it as balanced as possible.
“So each of our secondary schools will in the reference area have materials belonging to both campaigns that children can access.”