An independent report has slated a Scottish local authority's policy on school catchment areas three months after its director of education was suspended over the issue.

The review found that Inverclyde Council had four different versions of its school's placing request policy in circulation, with contradictory information contained in each.

The report went on to say that the council's criteria for granting placing requests appeared to vary from one year to the next and the admissions policy lacked consistency and clarity.

It called for Inverclyde to introduce a single policy that "clearly defines priorities in respect of placing requests".

In May, The Herald revealed that Inverclyde Council had suspended Ian Fraser, its director of education, following a row over catchments areas.

Mr Fraser's suspension centred on the case of Kirstin Airlie, 11, the only one of a 101-strong intake to Gourock High who was refused entry, despite attending a primary in the catchment area, albeit on a placing request.

Inverclyde's policy is to cap pupil numbers in S1 classes to a maximum of 20 and, the council argued, allowing 101 pupils into the first year would mean employing an extra teacher.

In order to decide which pupil was excluded, a ballot was held of all 101 applications, which resulted in Kirstin being told she had to go to Greenock Academy.

However, her parents successfully appealed the decision, an independent review of placing requests was put in place and Mr Fraser was suspended. He subsequently took early retirement.

Following the report, John Mundell, the council's chief executive, pledged to address the failings that had been identified. "The findings of this report are obviously extremely disappointing and it has identified a number of serious management and operational issues within education headquarters," he said.

"We fully accept the findings of the review and will be taking immediate action to implement the recommendations."

Stephen McCabe, leader of the council, added: "This review raises significant issues regarding the operation of our admissions and placing requests policy which must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

"I want to reassure parents and pupils that we are committed to ensuring that this type of situation cannot arise again. A new policy on admissions and placing requests has already been drafted as part of the review and will be issued for formal consultation with all stakeholders."

The recommendations of the independent review, which was carried out by Maggi Allan, a former director of education at South Lanarkshire Council, are that the council should take immediate steps to put in place a single coherent policy on admissions and placing requests that is applicable across all schools.

It also calls on the council to take immediate action to physically reduce the capacity of secondary schools, where appropriate, to ensure that school rolls match the number of places available in schools.

Greater parental choice in Scottish education dates back to legislation passed in 1981, when families were given certain rights to send their children to a state school of their choice.

The legislation was part of a wider drive by the then Conservative government at Westminster to put parents at the forefront of educational policy, rather than councils.

Until the introduction of placing requests, parents had to send their children to a school in their catchment area - which were drawn up by local authorities.

However, under the 1981 legislation, parents were given the right to ask for a place at a school other than their local one by making a placing request. The law states that, if there is space at the school, the education authorities must agree to the request.

If there are more placing requests than places available, the education authority will then allocate pupils according to an established set of rules, such as a ballot.