Help targeted at boosting the classroom performance of Asian and black pupils was getting better but was still too patchy, schools watchdog Ofsted said today.

Inspectors visited Bradford, along with 38 other education authorities, before drawing up the report published today.

The 46-page report said most best practice was in some London boroughs - where half the pupils were from ethnic minority groups. Elsewhere, they found some Councils performing well while others were "ineffective".

Today head teachers and education chiefs in Bradford welcomed the report, which follows the setting up of a new group - the Achievement Forum - to unite parents, schools and Education Bradford in tackling the issue.

David Mallen, new chairman of Bradford's Education Policy Partner-ship (EPP), said: "I shall look at the support given to schools in the past by the LEA, and what support Education Bradford is promising."

But he added that some groups, including Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils, under-achieved nationally and that the figures were "stark". "I can't say that it has been any better or any worse in Bradford."

The report said councils doing a good job were those with capable specialist staff and contingency funds to cope with unpredictable influxes of pupils, such as groups of asylum seekers.

The report also said the new Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG), introduced in 1999, was helping in some schools, but not all were exploiting its full potential.

The report stated: "In order to be effective, provision for children from minority ethnic groups must be fully integrated with schools' overall drive to raise standards, not seen as a separate specialist concern, largely focused on support for those learning English as an additional language."

Peter Roycroft, spokesman for Education Bradford, said: "Increasing achievement amongst ethnic minority groups is very high on our priority list.