The future of Birmingham City Council’s flagship education policy is hanging in the balance just a month before youngsters return to school.

The Birmingham Baccalaureate, known as BBacc, was a key part of the Labour Party’s 2012 election manifesto under which it secured control of the city council.

It was designed to give Birmingham youngsters the skills demanded by a 21st century economy and better align them with jobs of the future.

But the pilot, developed for a dozen schools by Birmingham firm Packt Publishing under the Skills for Birmingham umbrella, has now ended and, with the children set to return to the classroom from September, no new deal has been signed.

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “The city council is strongly committed to continuing with the Birmingham Baccalaureate, which aims to bring businesses and schools together to provide young people with greater access to good quality careers advice and gain the skills they need for further education, training and employment.

“However, we are reviewing what has worked well in BBacc’s pilot year and are in discussions with Skills for Birmingham, our current delivery partner, as to the future model and our ambition to reach more young people in more schools.”

Skills for Birmingham, run by Conservative politician and parliamentary candidate Rachel Maclean, developed the curriculum and produced material free of charge during the pilot year.

But the Post understands the company has asked the council for funding in the region of £55,000 a year to continue and roll out the Birmingham Baccalaureate across more schools and this has so far been rebuffed.

BBacc hit the national headlines last year when youngsters at Perry Beeches Academy in Great Barr – one of the schools to pilot the qualification – were given a curry cooking course developed by Balti Triangle businesses.

The Perry Beeches Academy Trust, which opens its fourth secondary school next month, has claimed the BBacc is a huge success and a hit with pupils and is looking to adopt the qualification independently of the city council.

BBacc involves forging close links between schools and major employers to ensure that future school leavers had the skills necessary to develop careers in growth areas such as life sciences, digital industries, food and hospitality and engineering.

Last year’s pilot scheme saw major employers including Cadbury, Birmingham Airport, Midland Heart, HS2 and IBM involved in developing the curriculum and specific projects for schools.

An advisory board overseeing the scheme includes chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Soihull Local Enterprise Partnership Andy Street, Birmingham International Airport chief executive Paul Keogh and Edgbaston MP Gisela Stuart – one of the architects of the 2012 Labour manifesto.

Skills for Birmingham would not comment on the situation while talks were ongoing.