MPs are demanding answers on how the Department for Education plans to improve school standards in the North.

The Commons Education Select Committee chairman Robert Halfon has written to the education secretary following MPs’ first public hearing into educating the North last week.

He calls for the government to respond on how the Northern Powerhouse Education Fund has been spent and on high-profile failures of some multi-academy trusts in the north of England.

The letter also notes how northern pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve lower attainment levels than disadvantaged pupils elsewhere in the country.

Last week, George Osborne, Lord Jim O’Neill and Henri Murison from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership gave evidence to the committee last week following the NPP’s report into raising standards in the North earlier this year.

Mr Osborne, who is chairman of the NPP, has called for the government to ensure that as many pupils from the North of England attend “good” or “outstanding” schools as do in London.

This would mean 430,000 more pupils being able to attend schools which are good or better.

He also called for the creation of a new schools board for the North which would have responsibility for the governance of academy trusts. He told MPs that the government needed to make school improvement in the North one of its big ideas.

Mr Halfon said: “The NPP’s report on educating the North lays bare the stark educational attainment gap between the North and other parts of England. This is particularly true for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, who at the age of 16 achieve an average Attainment 8 score of 6.5 points below that of their peers in London.

“The Education Committee shares concerns about skills, inequalities in educational attainment and social justice and welcomes the path for improvement proposed by the NPP. The government must now urgently spell out what action it is taking to narrow the attainment gap between the North and the rest of the country.”

During last week’s select committee hearing, Lord O’Neill, vice-chairman of the NPP, suggested that some of the Northern Powerhouse Education Fund had not been spent.

Mr Halfon’s letter asks about how this fund has been used. It also asks the DfE what action it is taking over teacher recruitment and retention in the North and how the government’s career strategy will benefit the North of England.

Last week, the DfE insisted the Northern Powerhouse Education Fund was being spent.

A spokeswoman said: “We are committed to tackling regional inequalities in educational outcomes across the country, including in the North. Thanks to the £70 million Northern Powerhouse fund, we are investing in a number of projects to help boost school performance through the government’s Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy.

“Projects include expanding the reach of the maths hubs, creating a new network of English hubs, supporting schools that struggle with recruitment and retention and a new scheme run by the Education Endowment Foundation to trial projects to provide practical tools and advice to parents to help widen children’s language, vocabulary and social skills in the preschool years.”