Bradford Council is hoping to hear in the next few weeks on whether a restriction will be lifted which currently prevents the authority from running the district’s schools.

Education bosses at the Council have written to the Department for Children, Schools and Families, setting out a plan to manage education services in house once a private contract expires in 2011. A response is expected before the end of the year.

School Secretary Ed Balls has indicated that he was “minded” to end the Government’s intervention which was introduced after a highly-critical Ofsted report in 2000.

But an official decision is required before the Council can push its plans forward. Serco signed a ten-year £360 million deal to provide education support to the Council and set up Education Bradford.

Today the Council’s executive agreed to accept the recommendations by a board set up to review how best to manage education services from July 2011.

Kath Tunstall, the Council’s strategic director for children and young people, said: “We have looked at a range of support and through having one clear point of leadership any confusion that people feel is there at the moment can be avoided. We have set out documentation and delivered it to the DCSF confirming out determination.”

Council leader Kris Hopkins added that the issue had cross-party support. The matter is to be debated at a full council.

l The executive also recommended that the leader and cabinet model be adopted by the Council over a directly-elected mayor. A decision on the new leadership model will be made by full council on Tuesday, December 15.

Councillors sitting on the executive also recommended not to change to full council elections every four years and preferred three councillors per ward over single member wards.

It was also made clear that if a directly-elected mayor is adopted, then the Council is under no obligation to change the Lord Mayor’s title.