Council chiefs have strongly urged education standards watchdogs to scrap ‘inappropriate' proposals for the inspection of school improvement services provided by local authorities.

SOLACE and the Local Government Association (LGA) issued a joint response on 19 March in response to an Ofsted consultation entitled ‘A good education for all' urging the inspectorate to work with authorities to co-design an alternative approach to supporting councils deliver their school improvement role.

Mark Rogers, Solihull MBC chief executive and chair of the Solace children's and education policy team said councils ‘cannot be held solely responsible for raising school performance'.

‘Indeed, in a system predicated on autonomy, this responsibility must now be owned primarily by schools themselves,' said Mr Rogers.

Cllr David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA's children and young people's board, said ‘this inappropriate inspection framework is not the way forward and shuld be withdrawn'.

‘Rather than these out-dated plans, pupils would benefit far more from government untying the hands of councils from red tape and bureaucracy so they can move quickly to help the worst performing schools,' Cllr Simmonds said.