Pest controllers sent to schools 11,000 times in the last five years

Data collected by the Scottish Liberal Democrats showed they were called in to deal with creatures such as wasps, rats, woodlice and silverfish - with the party warning children's learning risked being ''disrupted'' by such incidents.

Pest controllers were dispatched to deal with a ''ferret incident'' at Alehousewells School in Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, according to the Liberal Democrats, and after a staff member at a school in Fife was attacked by wasps.

In total, pest controllers were sent out to schools 11,072 times over the period 2013-14 to 2017-118.

Liberal Democrat education spokesman Tavish Scott said: ''These figures show that pest controllers are called in to Scottish schools more than 40 times a week to remove infestations.''

Freedom of information requests to local authorities revealed in Glasgow City Council - Scotland's largest - pest controllers were sent out 2,446 times over the five years.

Fife Council had the second highest total, with 1,889 incidents, while there were 1,476 in North Lanarkshire and 1,356 in the Edinburgh City Council areas.

However, more than a quarter of Scotland's local authorities reported no incidents, with Dundee, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Highland, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Shetland Islands Council and South Lanarkshire all having none recorded, while Perth and Kinross Council did not supply any information.

Mr Scott said: ''Teachers and pupils' working conditions must be fit for purpose if they are all to be given the best chance of succeeding.

''We've had reports of teachers who see mice in their classrooms on a regular basis. These are grim conditions to be working in and such incidents can cause classes and learning to be disrupted.''

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ''Local authorities must ensure they are providing safe and clean environments for all school users.

In the last 10 years there has been a reduction of almost two-thirds in the proportion of pupils educated in ''poor'' or ''bad'' condition schools.

Despite continued UK Government real-terms cuts to Scotland's resource budget, we have treated local government very fairly.

This year councils will receive funding through the local government finance settlement of #10.7 billion. This will provide a real terms boost in both revenue and capital funding.''