THE first inspection of Darlington Borough Council's education department has revealed that its strengths outweigh its weaknesses.

Inspectors from the Government's Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) spent three weeks in the town earlier this year, as the authority's education department had its first inspection since becoming a unitary authority in 1997.

Inspectors interviewed education department staff at the Town Hall and visited schools to talk to teachers and governors.

The inspection covered all aspects of work carried out by the department, including school improvement, support for early years education, literacy, numeracy and information technology.

Inspectors also looked at corporate planning, special education needs, school admissions, behaviour support and social exclusions.

The inspection team praised the department for spending little on central administration while meeting all targets for strategic plans and initiatives.

They also noted that achievement in secondary schools had risen faster than the national rate of improvement, with more pupils now leaving school with qualifications.

In primary schools, improvement is keeping pace with the national level.

Support for numeracy in primary schools, asset management planning and provision of school places were among the functions singled out by inspectors for special praise, as being carried out particularly well.

There are several areas in which Ofsted says the education department needs to improve.

They include taking action to improve the provision for child protection, and reducing the delay between assessment and access to full-time equivalent education for pupils permanently excluded from school.

Councillor Don Bristow, the council's deputy cabinet member for education, said he was pleased with the overall comments of the report.

"We are still a very young education authority and have come a long way in a very short time," he said.

"As a relatively small authority we have to target our resources skilfully and work closely with schools. We have done this well. We acknowledge there are areas where improvement is needed, but we have the capability to do this, and this has been recognised by the inspectors."