THE Conservatives' Stephen Kerr has been appointed convener of Holyrood's education committee despite removing Gaelic from the Scottish Parliament logo in a letter.
Kerr was rapped by the Holyrood authorities but his action has not prevented him taking one of the most influential roles in Scottish education where he is also charged with examining Scottish Government policy on children and young people.
He was unveiled this week in the education committee role with a former long serving teacher Kaukab Stewart, from the SNP, appointed as the deputy convener of education.
Last month Kerr, who represents Central Scotland, tweeted a letter he had sent to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab criticising the Scottish Government for spending money on overseas offices.
READ MORE: Jim Fairlie shuts down Stephen Kerr's heckles in Holyrood debate
But social media users noticed that the letter head of the symbol of the Scottish Parliament had been edited.
The official logo, the Scottish Parliament's Corporate Identity, is made up of the badge and text reading “The Scottish Parliament” in English and Gaelic.
However, Kerr had removed the Gaelic translation from underneath the English version of the phrase.
The Scottish Parliament confirmed that Kerr had been “reminded of the policy”.
Gaelic medium education is of growing importance and popularity in Scotland, with many non Gaelic speaking parents choosing to send their children to Gaelic schools because of their rich cultural ethos and high standards of education.
The SNP plans to expand Gaelic-medium education and bring forward a languages bill covering Gaelic and Scots.
It is not known if the bill would go to Kerr's education committee for scrutiny.
In its election manifesto, the SNP said the expansion of Gaelic-medium education would be backed by investment to increase the number of teachers who can teach through the medium of Gaelic as well as widening the range of subjects that can be taught in Gaelic at both the lower and senior phases of secondary school.
Kaukab Stewart will be deputy education convener
As well as removing the Gaelic from the letterhead logo, the contents of Kerr's letter to Raab also caused outrage as Kerr - a passionate Brexiteer - was suggesting that the SNP were wasting money on a “network of international offices”.
Evelyn Tweed, the SNP MSP for Stirling, accused him of at the time of a “highly dangerous” bid to diminish Scotland's standing around the world.
She said: “Stephen Kerr has been an MSP for just a few weeks, yet his ill-founded Westminster-knows-best arrogance has already bubbled to the surface.
“His attempt to diminish Scotland’s standing on the world stage is highly dangerous. It exposes how his party has abandoned any pretence that the UK is a partnership of equals.
READ MORE: Tory under fire over attempt to ‘diminish Scotland’s standing’
“The Tories are a direct threat to devolution, to efforts to promote Scottish trade and to attract job-creating inward investment and our nation’s place on the world stage. This position is also absurd.
“Does Kerr genuinely believe the Tories will win more support by saying to Scotland, ‘vote us into government so we can do nothing about promoting Scotland abroad?’”
Tweed said Kerr also demonstrated “breathtaking” levels of hypocrisy or arrogance, and added: “Scotland’s first offices in the EU were set up by the Tories when they ran the Scottish Office in the 1990s. Even Cosla has an office in Brussels. Does Stephen Kerr want that shut down as well?"
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said on the removal of the Gaelic logo: "This was a simple mistake on the part of his staff, which was quickly rectified.
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