Education consultants Nord Anglia and support services company Amey have been awarded a �200m contract to run a range of services for 92 schools in the London Borough of Waltham Forest for the next five years.

The two firms have set up a joint venture - EduAction - for the purpose.

Oxfordshire local education authority is to provide advice to the partnership.

The contract covers:

• direct pupil services incorporating welfare and special needs
• school development and review, including performance monitoring and development planning
• literacy and numeracy strategies
• core support services such as financial management, human resources and information technology.

Amey's chief executive, Brian Staples, said: "We are committed to delivering quality education services, building upon and improving the foundations that are already in place."

Nord Anglia's chairman, Kevin McNeany, said: "EduAction has already been supporting staff and schools in the borough since May.

"We are grateful for their positive and co-operative approach, which bodes well for our future relations with all stakeholders."

The basic contract fee is about �15m per year, with other services being bought directly by schools, valued at about �5m.

Other services are funded wholly or in part by government grants, which the companies say raises the value of the contract to about �40m a year.

Poor report

In its report on Waltham Forest education authority a year ago, Ofsted said the outer London borough had significant deprivation, unemployment and ethnic diversity.

Achievement in schools had improved markedly since 1995, but results remained significantly below national averages and those for similar authorities.

Strategic management of education was "weak" and there were "major shortcomings".

"No agreed vision and strategy for education exists within the borough," the report said.

The authority lacked professional leadership.

"We do not believe that Waltham Forest will improve significantly without external assistance," it added.