The leader of Bradford Council wants to take the control of the district's schools back in house once a ten-year contract with a private company ends.

Kris Hopkins said it was his "personal ambition" to bring education back under Council control in 2011.

Serco was handed the job of running the education authority in a £360 million contract six years ago after the Council received a damning report from Ofsted.

The company then created Education Bradford to take on the contract. The Department for Education and Skills would also need to give the Council permission to regain control.

Councillor Hopkins said: "The DfES didn't believe that the education department had the capacity or capability to deliver high quality education for the people of the district.

"There is now four years left of that contract and what needs to happen is that the conversations need to go on with the DfES about what we need to develop to be able to take on education again.

"In the meantime we need to be constantly challenging services with Education Bradford to ensure they deliver the high levels expected.

"It is my personal ambition to bring education back within the Council's control. A local authority should be delivering education to the people of the district. But I don't want to provide some half-hearted lacklustre education system that is not capable of delivering excellence."

It comes the day after the Council's Tory and Liberal Democrat groups announced a work plan that includes carrying out a review of Education Bradford's contract.

Lib Dem education spokesman Councillor David Ward said his party was never in favour of privatisation. He said: "It was an experiment. We've always regarded it as such and have seen nothing to change our minds. We are not critical of John Gaskin and Education Bradford but we do think it is such an important service. It needs to be within the Council rather than a private company."

Labour group education spokesman, Councillor Ralph Berry, said: "I don't disagree with the direction of travel, but I would be interested to know what other options they have rejected. There should be an appraisal of options. The Council has got a lot to do if it is to get to the point where it can take over.

"There are still some extremely serious and challenging problems and transferring the functions will not just solve them."

John Gaskin, managing director of Education Bradford, said: "We remain absolutely committed to Bradford. What we need to do now is to find ways of working together to improve outcomes for pupils in the district.

"We welcome the announcement of a review of the Education Bradford contract and the opportunity to make sure that this critical strategic partnership functions effectively on all sides."

Asked by the Telegraph & Argus if it intended to re-bid for the contract before it runs out in 2011, a spokesman for Education Bradford's parent company Serco, said: "Our focus is on Education Bradford and on delivering the contract and the right education to children throughout the district."

A DfES spokesman said: "The contract has another four years to run and, towards the end of that time, ministers will decide whether a further direction should be issued or whether the Council can take back full responsibility for organising the services itself.

"This decision will be based on the Council's and its partners' performance, taking into account the latest inspection evidence, and robust succession planning from the Council's own legal and procurement advice.

"It cannot be assumed there would be a bidding exercise. In due course, it will be for the Council to say whether the way it proposes to organise those services would or would not entail commissioning other organisations to deliver some services on its behalf."

Kay Lindley, head teacher of Victoria Primary School in Keighley, who is chairman of the Bradford Primary Heads' Association, said: "I am not fully convinced that anybody fully understood the challenge that was there and still is there. There are still five years to go on the contract for Education Bradford. It is like when people talk about a huge cargo ship travelling on a certain path, it can take a long time to turn around."

Pam Milner, Bradford branch spokesman for the NASUWT said: "I think the Conservative Party has realised that Education Bradford have not come up with the goods and are unlikely to come up with the goods and that the Council needs to bring education back in house. I think this is a real chance for Bradford Council to now prove itself."

Philip Shackleton, Bradford branch secretary for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said he agreed with Councillor Hopkins' comments. "Judging from what we have seen over the past five years how on earth can the local authority do any worse?"

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