A report into the attainment gap in education between the most and least deprived pupils found it is still wide and action is needed to close it faster.

The report by Audit Scotland found the gap has reduced in recent years but remains wide.

It said progress on closing the poverty-related attainment gap between the most and least deprived school pupils has been limited.

And it called for more evidence to understand educational achievement beyond exams.

Glasgow is one of nine areas in Scotland which are “attainment challenge councils”.

In Glasgow the percentage of pupils who have achieved five awards at SQA level five has increased over the period 2013/14 to 2018/19.

Over the period the rate of pupils in the city who achieved one award at level five increased by 2.7% to 83.2%.

It has one of the lowest rates in the country for pupils who gained five awards at level five at 57.8% but is among the biggest increases over the five years, at 8.1%.

However, the gap in the city between those in the most deprived and those in the least deprived as still wide, at more than 30 percentage points.

A graph in the Audit Scotland report shows that the percentage in the most deprived areas who achieved five awards at level five was just below 50% whereas in the least deprived it was just above 80%.

Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, said: “Significantly reducing the attainment gap is complex. But the pace of improvement has to increase as part of the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 recovery planning. That process needs to particularly focus on the pandemic’s impact on the most disadvantaged children and young people.”