Welsh education minister, Leighton Andrews, has sent a warning to ‘local government as a whole', questioning whether councils have the capacity to run school services in the country.

The comments follow another damning inspection into standards – 14 out of the 22 councils in Wales have been judged under a new school inspection framework, so far none achieved the highest ‘excellent' rating, while four have been considered ‘unsatisfactory'.

This week troubled Anglesey Council became the second authority in Wales after Blaenau Gwent to be placed under special education measures, after a highly critical schools report.

Inspectors found that over a quarter of pupils starting in year seven in Anglesey's secondary schools had a reading age below the functional literacy in Welsh or English.

Mr Andrews said: ‘What we are doing is very much a warning to local government as a whole. There's no question that we've had a series of damning reports now from Estyn [Her Majesty's Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales] and we have to ask whether there is sufficient capacity within local authorities to drive educational improvement that are necessary.'

In response a Welsh Local Government Association spokesperson said: ‘Every council in Wales has stated that education remains their number one priority, and they are committed to raising standards and improving outcomes for children and young people.