AN EDUCATION minister has refused to publish “state of decay” rankings for eight ageing Bradford schools that missed out on Government rebuilding cash.

There was fury last month when four secondary and four primary schools – one of which has pre-war buildings – all had their applications rejected.

Two of the schools, Queensbury and Ilkley Grammar, had had rebuilding schemes axed when the Coalition came to power.

The row rumbled on in the Commons yesterday, when the Department for Education (DfE) came under pressure to release a comparison of decay in all so-called “priority schools”.

Allocations were said to be made according to an exhaustive database setting out the physical condition of all 27,000 schools, compiled over four years.

But David Laws, the Liberal Democrat education minister, twice refused to release the rankings on the database.

Instead, he told MPs: “That could be misleading, without taking into account other information supplied by schools and local authorities with their bids.”

The refusal was sharply criticised by Ralph Berry, Bradford Council’s executive member for education – who said local authorities would not be allowed to behave in that way.

Councillor Berry said: “It’s outrageous that they are not prepared to reveal the workings behind these decisions.

“As long as they refuse to do so, it will look like a political fix to put school rebuilding money into designated areas where ministers want it to go.

“I suspect they will have no choice but to release it eventually – as they did with applications for free schools – but they will hope to kick it past May and the general election.”