Ed Balls has announced that the school exams authority is to be disbanded and replaced by an independent body.

The schools secretary told the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth on Wednesday that the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority will be replaced by a new body tasked with maintaining standards.

Speaking to the Telegraph newspaper, Balls said: "To me it is very important that parents, employers, that young people themselves, are confident that we are maintaining standards. I want to put behind us the sterile debate about dumbing down."

The move is said to be modelled on the independence given to the Bank of England in 1997 when Balls was an adviser at the Treasury.

"There is an inherent conflict of interest in having one body that is both developing the curriculum and keeping the curriculum up to date with the modern needs of employers and learning, and at the same time having set the curriculum and set the tests, also reporting after the fact that standards have been maintained," he said.

"And while I think the QCA has tried really hard to be robust and independent I just think that if you have an organisation with different functions that look like they conflict, you aren't going to win the highest level of public confidence."

Formed in 1997, the QCA was established by Labour through the merger of the old School Curriculum and the National Council for Vocational Qualifications.

Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove: "It is quite right to break up the QCA and separate the role of regulator from its other functions.

"I am glad that Ed Balls has adopted a policy we have been advocating for many years.

"The key test for him, however, is to ensure that exam standards are robust by global standards and that we reverse the trend that has seen us falling behind our international competitors."

Balls also outlined his vision for the 'every child a reader' and 'every child counts' initiatives, which are to be rolled out nationwide at an additional cost of £144m.

"We will break down all the barriers to opportunity in Britain, so that everyone can aspire and succeed and no child is left behind," he told the conference.

"We need to raise our sights because we cannot rest until we have an education system that is world class and world class for all."