An action plan has been drawn up to help tackle the critical financial state of Bradford's schools.

The Telegraph & Argus reported in November how unspent cash in some schools totalled £15 million, while others had debts totalling more than £7 million.

Financial watchdog the Audit Commission has now revealed in a report that deficit balances were 'increasing at an alarming rate' and were 'out of control in some schools'.

Auditors also found Bradford Council and Education Bradford, the private company running the district's schools, were aware of a school's final budget position four months after the end of the financial year.

And although the procedure for approving school budget debts was said to be 'good' it was also criticised as the 'impact of the work was diluted'.

The report said the budget-setting process started too late, there was lack of involvement by senior officers, lack of penalties or incentives for schools to comply and a 'lack of resources and capacity for effective management'.

Now auditors are calling for 'immediate remedial action' and more fundamental changes to prevent the situation happening again.

In November, figures were revealed at the Young People and Education Improvement Committee which showed 12 of the 28 secondary schools and 29 primaries out of 159 were in the red.

At the meeting, Education Bradford's head of school funding, Alan Jarvis, admitted they did not have enough staff and resources to tackle the issue.

But he said they were dealing 'robustly' with schools in debt, and repayment schemes were being drawn up.

The new action plan lists recommendations in order of urgency, starting with a review of the how schools' financial information is logged and setting up a central database of information.

The plan will be discussed at the next committee meeting on Wednesday in City Hall at 4.30pm.

Committee chairman Councillor Phillip Thornton said the matter 'had gone on long enough'.

"The report is a pretty damning indictment on the part of Education Bradford's failure to address this problem swiftly when it started to become an issue," he said.

"Piecemeal action plans have proved to be inadequate and have resulted in a situation which needs desperate measures to turn it around."

He said he hoped chairmen of governors and head teachers would attend the meeting to express their views.

Schools in debt could receive a share of £500,000 which was set aside for those in financial problems if they can show the situation was not their fault.

The head teacher and governors at one school have already had their budget powers removed.