Powers to intervene in failing schools must be returned to councils if standards are to be upheld, according to local authority chiefs.

The Local Government Association (LGA) said councils should be allowed to trigger Ofsted inspections, challenge governors and scrutinise budgets in all schools in local areas – including free schools and academies.

Councils can currently only intervene in maintained schools after being granted Whitehall permission or following an ‘inadequate’ rating from inspectors.

Leaders said ‘empowered councils’ would help restore pupil and parent confidence in school conduct.

The calls came in the wake of ‘Trojan Horse’ investigations in Birmingham, where academies accounted for four of the five schools placed in special measures.

Cllr David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA's children and young people board, said: ‘Councils are held to account by local people and would provide children and parents with a streamlined system that allows high education standards and improvement across the board.

‘At present, there is a real risk of serious issues falling through the gaps and it will not be tolerated by parents or local government. We shouldn't have to wait until somebody blows the whistle to find out that something could have gone wrong. We need to be continually keeping a close eye on school performance.’

A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘Since 2010 we have taken 900 schools which were failing under council control and turned them into academies with the support of a strong sponsor.

‘We have consistently shown that we are tough on failure. We are strengthening the failure regime for academies through the new regional schools commissioners and Head Teacher Boards. This will ensure swift action is taken in the small number of cases where academies are struggling.

‘It is thanks to this Government's reforms that the number of pupils being taught in failing secondary schools has fallen by 250,000 since 2010.’