Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has today fired a shot across the bows of local authorities - warning councils they will be held to account if they fail to play a meaningful role in improving the performance of schools in their areas.

His words follow damning judgments on schools improvement arrangements in Norfolk CC and the Isle of Wight, the first such five-day inspections to be carried out by the regulator under a new framework.

Under the new regime - which sees the watchdog return to local education authority inspections (LEA) for the first time in a decade after they were replaced with joint area reviews in 2004/05 – Ofsted will only investigate where its assessments uncover clear concerns about the quality of an authority's education services, or at the request of the secretary of state for eduction.

But having singled out Norfolk and the Isle of Wight to be the first authorities to experience the new framework, Ofsted's verdict has branded both authorities as ineffective and unfit for purposes in school improvements.

In Norfolk the authority had taken too long to use its power of intervention to challenge standards in weaker schools, resulting in a ‘legacy of underachievement'.

Ofsted reported two thirds of schools in the Isle of Wight were now inadequate following a rapid spiral of decline.  It found the authority lacked strong corporate and strategic leadership, failed to use performance data to understand its schools well or make early interventions.

‘Today's findings should serve as a wake up call for those local authorities across England that are failing to get a grip on school improvement,' HMCI chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said.

‘If councils want to demonstrate they still have a relevant and meaningful role to play within the new educational landscape, they must act as dynamic and proactive agents for improvement.
 
‘I am determined to continue this inspection programme into the next academic year and beyond to ensure local authorities with significant numbers of underperforming schools in their area held to account,' Sir Michael added.