MONMOUTH MP David Davies has joined Assembly Member Nick Ramsay in questioning a critical report on the local education authority.

The support by the two senior Conservatives for the Tory-controlled council came as the woman who heads the county's education service survived a motion of no-confidence.

Cabinet member for education Councillor Liz Hacket-Pain, who represents Wyesham, said there was "no reason" to step down following the report by the Welsh education standards body Estyn.

The report concluded the current performance of the council's education department and its prospects for improvement were unsatisfactory.

But Mr Davies said some of the criticisms seemed "a little unfair" when Estyn acknowledged that performance by the school's secondary schools was better than average and among the best at primary level.

"As a parent of three children in state schools in Monmouthshire, I fully agree with Estyn that standards in schools are very high overall and I'm surprised the headlines in the report don't reflect this."

A no-confidence motion in Councillor Hackett-Pain was tabled by the Labour group at a special meeting of Monmouthshire Council last week.

Labour leader Councillor Roger Harris said: "The Estyn report concludes that we are in the mire and it's not all down to the free school meals criteria that the inspectors choose to use.

"Our capacity to improve has also been deemed as unsatisfactory and this is a damming indictment on the authority.

"The report smacks of an inadequate controlling administration and we need to set this against our previous inspection in 2008/9 to find out why we have steadily gone downhill.

"Councillor Hacket Pain is the cabinet member who is ultimately responsible for this shambles and we are calling for her to do the right thing and resign."

In response, Councillor Hacket Pain said: "I have reflected on my position as the buck does stop with me.

"I have lived through the last three months worrying about how we got here. When we were told of the inspector's initial finding I started work on the action plan immediately as I knew we could not waste time.

"If the Estyn report was critical of me then I would have reason to go. But it is not. Therefore I am not resigning. I do accept though things have to change. It would have been easy to walk away from it, that is what someone with no courage or tenacity would have done. I have had to think long and hard about that."