THE Government has failed to meet a raft of key targets for GCSE results this year, according to new figures.

The proportion of students getting five or more A to C grades at GCSE or equivalent qualifications this year rose by 0.5 per cent to 53.4 per cent.

But this is 1.5 per cent short of the target of a two per cent rise each year in this pass rate, the figures from the Office for National Statistics showed.

Several other key targets for GCSEs were also missed.

Ministers wanted 92 per cent of 16-year-olds to pass at least five GCSEs at grade G or above this year in subjects including English and maths.

But the proportion of students achieving this fell, from 86.6 per cent last year to 86.4 per cent this year.

And another target - to have 38 per cent of students in every local education authority (LEA) with at least five A to C grades at GCSE this year - was also missed, although there was a slight improvement on last year.

However, results for the North-East showed every authority achieved above this national percentage target.

In the North-East as a whole there was a 2.2 per cent rise in the number of pupils gaining GCSEs in the top grades.

In the Yorkshire and Humber region, there was an increase of 1.5 per cent.

Newcastle LEA showed an increase of 5.3 per cent in the number of students achieving five or more grades at A to C.

In Darlington, there was a drop in the number of students achieving top grades, down from 50 per cent last year to 47.6 per cent.

There was a difference between the genders with 49.6 per cent of girls in Darlington LEA achieving A to C grades, compared with 57.6 per cent last year.

But boys improved, with 45.5 per cent gaining the top grades, compared with 42.6 per cent last year.

In Middlesbrough, one in ten boys did not receive any GCSE or equivalent grades and 9.4 per cent of pupils, the highest number in the North-East, did not receive any passes at GCSE or GNVQ level.

Rosemary Morris, head of standards for Middlesbrough Council, said: "We dispute these figures and think they are nearer eight and a half per cent."

However, Middlesbrough LEA did see an improvement in the overall number of pupils receiving grades A to C, which rose to 40.4 per cent.

Nationally, the gap widened between the performance of students in specialist schools and non-specialist schools.

In specialist schools, 56.9 per cent of pupils scored at least five A to C grades this year, a 0.2 per cent rise. In non-specialist schools, only 47.7 per cent scored five or more A to C grades at GCSE, down from 49.3 per cent last year.