Hundreds of thousands of children are struggling to master the basics of reading, writing and maths as primary school standards continue to fall, figures showed yesterday.

For the second year in a row, the proportion of seven-year-olds making the grade in writing fell, leaving 107,000 children unable to produce adequate written English.

And the Government's results from teacher assessments across England showed no improvements in reading, maths, science, or speaking and listening skills.

Boys continued to lag behind girls, with their results in maths falling for a second year.

Schools Minister Lord Adonis welcomed the figures, insisting that "high standards" were being maintained.

But Shadow Schools Minister Nick Gibb condemned the Government's "complacency" and described the results as hugely concerning.

"These early years of school are critical building blocks for a child's education," he said.

"Ministers are worryingly complacent about these figures. Once again, the Government are being too easy on themselves."

Liberal Democrat schools spokesman David Laws added: "It is national disgrace that one in four boys do not even have the most basic writing skills aged seven. The Government has lost the momentum of improvement in primary school standards."

The results for teacher assessments in England's primary schools showed:

l One in five - 107,100 - seven-year-olds failed to reach level two, the expected standard for the age group, in writing;

l Among boys the proportion was higher - with a quarter falling short in written English;

l 88,200 children could not get up to standard in reading;

l One in ten pupils - or 54,600 - fell short in maths, no improvement on last year.

Lord Adonis stressed that most pupils were getting up to the expected level in the 3Rs. "I am pleased that we are maintaining high standards at this crucial stage in education," he said.

The minister promised to press for further improvements.

"While there has been real progress over the past ten years, we need to continue to push for year-on-year improvement because it is vital that all children gain a thorough understanding of the basics," he said.

"That is why we are doing much more to support early reading, writing and maths."

A return to what has been dubbed a "back-to-basics" method of teaching reading through letter sounds, known as phonics, will boost standards further, the minister argued.

He said the Government had already ordered a review of primary school maths and promised that more mental arithmetic will be taught when schools open again next week after the summer break.

Lord Adonis said the Government's programme of investing in childcare and early years education would also help "give children the best start".

But the primary school figures followed a report earlier this week that found the Government's early years education measures have yet to make an impact. Ministers have spent more than £21bn on early years and childcare initiatives.