Bradford MP Gerry Sutcliffe is calling for a Government crackdown on school bullies following a spate of serious attacks in the city's schools.

Mr Sutcliffe will meet Minister for Children Margaret Hodge to press for action following complaints from parents that schools and education bosses are not taking the issue seriously.

Among recent incidents reported to police in Bradford are:

l An 11-year-old boy with learning difficulties repeatedly bullied and attacked as he walked home from school

l A 14-year-old boy taken to hospital with a serious head injury after being attacked in school corridor

l A ten-year-old boy sent home from school with a black eye after being attacked

l A 12-year-old boy rescued by an ambulance driver from a 'pack' of up to 100 children.

Mr Sutcliffe, (Lab, Bradford South) said: "These reports of serious incidents involving bullying in Bradford schools, combined with national figures released on bullying, reflects the need for better guidelines to help head teachers deal with the issues."

He said it was essential to improve the monitoring of complaints from pupils and parents and making sure all complaints were logged.

"As minister for employment I am working on a rolling programme to combat bullying in the workplace and would like to see similar work being carried out in schools," he said.

Mr Sutcliffe said he would meet Mrs Hodge to discuss how this could be carried forward in Bradford and what was being done nationally.

"Bullying can have deep physiological effects on children and at worse result in an unnecessary death," he said.

"Positive action needs to be taken to avoid tragedies such as these."

Bradford West MP Marsha Singh has backed Mr Sutcliffe's stance.

He said: "Bullying motivated by racism is even more unacceptable and we should do everything in our power to protect children from it.

"Every child has the right to an education free from fear of bullying."

The comments follow a string of complaints to MPs and councillors from Bradford parents who claim that incidents of bullying involving their children, some of them racially motivated, are not being dealt with effectively by the schools involved.

Incidents of bullying are not logged nationally by the Department of Education and Skills (DfES). Nor are centralised records kept by Bradford Council or the police.

"The responsibility of logging incidents of bullying is down to the individual school," said a Council spokesman.

However, last year a Leeds-based counselling centre, run by Childline a national children's charity, dealt with 2,447 calls about bullying from children across the region.

The Council's director of education, Phil Green, said: "The responsibility of dealing with bullying lies with schools but if a parent is unsatisfied with a school's response they can ask to be referred to the board of governors.

"If the issue remains unresolved the parent can go to Education Bradford for further advice but Bradford Council has no authority over a school's bullying policy."

Judith Farooq's son Jordan was hospitalised after an attack in the corridor at Buttershaw High School left him with a fractured skull.

"I had complained to the school on a number of occasions about the bullying and nothing was done even after a meeting with the board of governors," she said.

"I said to them before Jordan was seriously hurt, 'Is it going to take a death or serious injury before you will listen?'."

Lindsay Gilbert, head of ChildLine's school's programme, said: "Bullying is the number one reason for children to call ChildLine and the effects it has on their lives can be devastating."

Buttershaw High School has now agreed to take part in a district-wide review of bullying to be conducted by the newly-elected Bradford and Keighley Youth Parliament.

Donna Southgate, says her ten year-old son arrived home from Low Ash Primary School, Wrose, with a black eye.

She said she had complained to the school several times but the bullying had continued.

"In the last week the bullies have attempted to strangle him and then on Wednesday he came home with a black eye," she said.

"Enough is enough. People need to stand up and take notice."

Ian Murch, Bradford branch secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "This is not just the responsibility of the school, Bradford Council has a duty to support head teachers and help deal with the problems."

Tong School in Westgate Hill, Bradford, was praised for its bullying policies in a latest Ofsted report.

The report commends the school's proactive work on its inclusion programme and behaviour strategies.

Head teacher Lyn O'Reilly said: "Bullying happens in every school and there is no getting away from that because it is a very complex issue.

"The important thing is to be aware that it is happening and to deal with it quickly."

Mrs O'Reilly said all bullying incidents at the school are logged and thorough investigations conducted.