A regional publisher has won government praise for a searchable schools guide published on seven of its daily titles’ websites.

David Laws, Minister of State for Schools, pictured left, said he was “pleased” to see Trinity Mirror publishing the data in the second edition of its Real Schools Guide.

The Birmingham Mail, Liverpool Echo, Huddersfield Examiner, Coventry Telegraph, The Newcastle Chronicle, Teesside Gazette and Manchester Evening News have all published the information on their websites.

The guide ranks primary schools on each newspaper’s patch based on factors including whether all pupils at a given school are making progress, what attendance is like, the ratio of teachers to pupils and if pupils are doing better than expected.

In October, a similar guide was featured in the print editions of the same titles ahead of the deadline for parents applying for places in 2014-15.

However, the new guide is an online-only feature.

Mr Laws said: “Making information about school performance freely available allows parents to see how their child’s school is performing compared to others – and if necessary challenge it to improve.

“I’m pleased to see Trinity Mirror putting this information to good use.

“It is vital we continue to raise standards so all children leave primary school with a thorough grounding in reading, writing and maths and can thrive at secondary school.

“Publishing information on school performance is a key part of that.”