COUNCILLORS have criticised a report on the future of education in Argyll and Bute after it referred to school pupils as “stakeholders”.

The document advised elected members of the engagement programme for the ‘Our Children, Their Future’ strategy document.

Primary and secondary pupils addressed a meeting of councillors, giving their opinions on how education should be shaped in the area in the future.

But councillors hit out at use of the word “stakeholders” during a meeting of Argyll and Bute Council’s community services committee on Thursday, June 6.

Councillor Jan Brown (SNP, Mid Argyll) said: “We keep talking about ‘stakeholders’ and ‘all our stakeholders’ – who are they?

“We have invited kids, but we are not talking about them as people; we are talking about them as stakeholders.”

Wendy Brownlie, the council’s education manager, responded: “On this occasion it is a massive list and we probably should have included it.

“We included elected members, staff and pupils of schools at all levels, and Argyll College and the University of the Highlands and Islands.

“We also included Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue, and we engaged with Live Argyll and Active Schools.

“We then asked schools to engage with their partners, so we are depending on the community we live in.

“The list is massive, but we probably need to get better at pulling together something capturing the enormity of how bit the list is.”

Councillor Graham Hardie (Liberal Democrat, Helensburgh Central) added: “The term ‘stakeholders’ is used a lot and I find it really inappropriate.

“It feels like you are in a corporate boardroom rather than a council meeting. I suggest it gets looked at.”

Council executive director Douglas Hendry said: “We are happy to look at it, but the term ‘stakeholders’ is in wide use.

“If councillors do not like it, then we are more than happy to hear any suggestions they might have for what they words might be, as long as they are within the bounds of propriety.”