The Secretary of State for Education, David Blunkett, has today issued expenditure tables that compares the spending patterns of Local Education Authorities nation-wide.

Warwickshire’s Education Authority is well ahead of the Government’s challenging targets.

The Government has stated that it wants to see Local Education Authorities spend less than £65 per pupil on central administration costs. Warwickshire halves that figure with £32 per pupil.

Another challenge issued to authorities is to delegate at least 80 per cent of its budget to schools. Warwickshire delegates 82.1 per cent.

Councillor Ian Bottrill, Leader of Warwickshire County Council said:

"This is a tribute to the excellent management skills, hard work and dedication of our education authority. We are proud to report that it has already met and exceeded the £65 per pupil target. In fact it spends half this much at £32 per pupil.

"We have always believed in delegating as much money as possible directly to our schools and we have for many years exceeded the government target of 80 per cent."

Richard Grant, Chair of the Education committee, explained:

"We are committed, in partnership with schools, to driving up standards, and welcome the challenges put to LEA’s to help and support schools in an efficient and economical manner.

"We want the maximum amount of money going directly in the classroom with the teachers and pupils underpinned by responsure and reliable sources to challenge and support their work. The government’s figures show that Warwickshire LEA has one of the lowest administration costs in the country and has already achieved targets set for the rest of the country.

"I expect the government to maintain its commitment to increased financial resources to education over the coming years so that our schools can move forward even more quickly and achieve even higher standards."

Eric Wood, County Education Officer, said:

"The government’s figures show that the Local Schools Budget is £2,518 per pupil in Warwickshire compared to the average County’s figure of £3,516 per pupil and £2,586 per pupil in metropolitan areas.

"Warwickshire’s spending figure, near to the average, can only be maintained by the County Council spending some £8.1m (4.3%) above the government’s Education Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) which determines how much grant we get to fund the Education service.

"This is because our SSA is £70 per primary pupil and £93 per secondary pupil below the County average.

"The figures show that the Education committee in Warwickshire is good value for money – it is efficient and has low overhead costs. We should receive a fairer share of the resources available from central government – fairer funding for our children is a modest ambition – the money would go straight into our classrooms and nurseries in our pursuit of excellence for all children in Warwickshire."

Fact File

The DfEE tables show:

 LEA Central Administration