BRADFORD East MP Imran Hussain has slammed the Government over the delivery of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy.

It was announced back in 2016 and saw Sir Nick Weller, CEO at the Bradford-based Dixons Academies Trust, lead an in-depth report on how education in the North could be improved.

Speaking in a House of Commons debate today, Mr Hussain accused the Government of spending money allocated to the strategy on projects with a national rather than regional reach.

He said: "Many of the projects that the Minister today and previous days has referred to are not projects solely catering for the North and have a national reach, betraying the very purpose of the Northern Schools Strategy.

"Will the Minister therefore commit to creating a Northern Schools Improvement Board, drawing together local authorities and schools commissioners and commit to extending funding beyond 2020 to deliver a regional strategy that we in Bradford need and were promised."

Replying to Mr Hussain, Schools Minister Nick Gibb MP said: "In the Bradford opportunity area, we are targeting up to £1.5 million of school improvement support, improving literacy through £600,000 of investment in Bradford primary schools - including nine schools in his own constituency."