A nursery manageress who called a four-year-old child in her care a "wee gay boy" has been struck off.

Margaret Morrison was a manager at the Hummingbird House Nursery in Dunblane - now called Dunblane Nature Kindergarten - when the incident took place in 2011.

After a hearing of the Scottish Social Services Council's Conduct Sub-committee in Dundee, Mrs Morrison was found to have breached the Scottish Social Services Council Code of Practice by making the "inappropriate" comment about the child to a colleague, Adele Lyon, in the nursery's Bumblebee Room.

When Ms Lyon said, "You can't say that", the committee found that Mrs Morrison responded, "Well he is".

No child in the nursery was reported to have heard the comment.

In a ruling published on Tuesday the sub committee also found that in June 2014 Mrs Morrison failed to treat a young colleague "with dignity and respect" and made a threatening remark, saying to another colleague to tell the worker, modern apprentice Kat Douglas: "Your days are numbered".

It was also found that on June 25, 2013, Mrs Morrison allowed her own 15-year-old daughter to look after children at the nursery when the teenager was not qualified or employed to do so, and that on the same day, between 8.15am and 9.15am she allowed the Bumblebee Room to operate outwith the required staff to child ratio, and in doing so she placed the service users at risk of harm.

The sub-committee ruled that Mrs Morrison's conduct "fell short of the standard of conduct expected of a person registered with the Council".

The sub-committee decided to make a Removal Order in relation to Mrs Morrison's registration as a manager of a day care of children service.

It found Mrs Morrison's misconduct was deliberate, she showed "little insight" into the seriousness of her actions and its potential impact on children and colleagues, and she had shown "no genuine or timely expression of regret".

It ruled that though no child was harmed, there was a potential for serious harm.

The sub-committee found Mrs Morrison had "attitudinal issues", her misconduct was "fundamentally incompatible with being a social service worker", and there was no other way apart from striking-off to protect members of the public and the wider public interest.

Mrs Morrison was given 14 days to give notice if she wants to appeal.

Last year, another worker, Katrina Wilson was struck off by the council for committing a series of offences of maltreatment during 2013 and 2014 at Hummingbird House.

She was said to have force-fed an apple to a baby, dragged a three-year-old child towards a sleep mat by the arm, and forcefully pushed the infant down at the nursery.