THE "scandal" of children who fail to achieve their potential at school will be tackled in the Government's five-year education plan, Tony Blair pledged yesterday.

As the battle between Labour and the Tories over education policy continued to rage, the Prime Minister acknowledged that exam results at primary and secondary levels needed to improve.

Speaking at the Fabian Society in London, he promised that the plan, to be shown to MPs today, would allow popular schools to expand and provide greater choice for parents.

But there would be no expansion of selection by ability, he said. Labour believes that higher standards do not require more selection and that this is "the fundamental political dividing political line" between the Government and the Opposition.

The plan will set out a move to three-year school budgets, which will give headteachers time to plan ahead.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Charles Clarke, speaking at the Commons educational select committee, described the current funding system as "ramshackle" and in need of reform.

Local education authorities (LEAs) are expected to be stripped of their discretion over how much Whitehall cash for schools is passed to heads.

But both Mr Blair and Mr Clarke denied that LEAs would disappear. LEAs would still have a vital role to play running services such as school transport, refurbishing buildings and helping struggling primaries and secondaries to improve.

The plan is also expected to say that more schools can become "foundation" institutions, which can take over responsibility for admissions and employing teachers.

And it is expected to urge more successful schools to use provisions from the 2002 Education Act that allow them to expand their range of services, including on a commercial basis.

It will also set out plans to expand the number of city academies - free, state-funded, non-selective independent schools run by private sponsors - from 12 to 200.

And it will guarantee specialist status to all secondary schools that meet the requirements.

Mr Blair hailed improvements in exam results since 1997 as "our proudest achievement in government" alongside the state of the economy and the "renovation" of the NHS.

When Labour came to office barely half of 11-year-olds were reaching the "basic standard" in maths and English, but now three-quarters were reaching that level, he said.

But, acknowledging that primary test result improvements have ground to a halt in the past couple of years, Mr Blair added: "I am saying today that it's a scandal that we've got 25 per cent that aren't up to that level."

Mr Blair said that instead of a "bare majority" of 16-year-olds getting at least five A-to-C grades at GCSE, as they did now, he wanted to see the "great majority" doing so in future.

And they should then stay at school until 18 before going on to gain "higher level skills and qualifications" at either university, further education college or in modern apprenticeships

"These are the goals we will be setting out for the years ahead.

"In terms of practical policy it is the most socially egalitarian vision any Labour government has ever espoused," said the Prime Minister.

The Conservatives mocked the Government's claim to want to give schools more freedom by saying that it sent heads a mountain of paperwork which would stretch almost twice the length of the Queen Mary 2 cruise liner if laid end-to-end.

Comment - Page 1