A senior councillor has urged the authority not to shelve a hard-hitting action plan designed to improve standards in the district’s schools.

The 16-point action plan was created by a Council committee which spent a year examining Bradford’s educational system and interviewing teachers, governors, parents and young people.

Its recommendations include making it easier to challenge or even dismiss substandard teachers, clamping down on authorised term-time absences and getting the Council to consider setting up its own ‘agency service’ of high-quality supply teachers.

The report by the children’s services overview and scrutiny committee was praised at a meeting of the Labour-run Council’s decision-making executive yesterday.

Council leader David Green said: “This is one of the best and most thorough pieces of work we have seen.”

Scrutiny committee chairman Councillor Malcolm Sykes (Con) replied: “Thank you for the kind words. It’s a committee that works very hard.

“But on the plan, don’t let me find this document propping the door open, please. It’s too important.”

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive member for children’s services, said the report was timely as the Council needed to update its educational improvement strategy and the report and its recommendations would now be included in it.

The executive voted to adopt the action plan and agreed the committee could monitor its progress.

After the meeting, Coun Berry said poor-performing staff would most likely receive extra training and support rather than be dismissed.

He praised the work of the Teaching School Alliance at St Edmund’s Nursery School and Children’s Centre, Girlington, which works with dozens of schools to develop the skills of staff.

He said: “This is not about just hounding teachers out of the profession. We should be constantly looking to help people improve their practice.”