A NEW strategy on tackling bullying in Glasgow schools was launched today.

A NEW strategy on tackling bullying in Glasgow schools was launched today.

It will include the collection of statistics on bullying for the first time.

The city council has produced an electronic form for schools, covering a wide range of incidents and seeking to establish whether bullying is motivated by sectarianism, race or sexual orientation.

It comes as campaigners warned the effectiveness of anti-bullying policies in Scots schools is being jeopardised because councils are failing to gather sufficient information on the scale of the problem.

All schools currently record incidents of bullying, but fewer than half of Scotland's 32 local authorities collate the figures to establish trends and whether policies to tackle the issue are working.

Respectme, an anti-bullying service funded by the Scottish Government, said all councils should develop sophisticated reporting systems to allow bullying to be assessed.

Brian Donnelly, director of Respectme, said: "Less than half of Scottish local authorities collate bullying statistics. We'd like to see all of them doing it because it can make a difference."