New figures have put Bradford bottom of the national league table in meeting Government targets for spending on education.

A Local Government Association survey of 150 local education authorities shows that schools in the city will receive £6.43 million below the level the Government recommends.

But a Council spokesman blamed swingeing cuts in government funding over the last five years.

Coun Dale Smith, the Conservative group's education spokesman, says the figures prove Bradford is being underfunded in education. He condemned the Labour-controlled Council for its poor record of education spending.

"The result has been chronic classroom underfunding and a rapidly deteriorating level of pupil achievement," he said.

According to the Local Government Association, which represents local councils across the country, Bradford City Council was told by the Government in December last year that the amount it allocated - or Standard Spending Assessment - for education from April should be £225,110,000.

However, the amount budgeted by the Council to spend on this vital service was £218,679,000 - £6,430,000 less.

The 2.9 per cent difference is crucial in a local education authority where academic achievement is already low, say the Tories.

Although 11 other LEAs have spent a greater percentage less than their SSA, Bradford has underspent by the most in cash terms.

And the situation is not mirrored by Bradford's neighbours. Leeds City Council spends more than £18 million over its SSA and North Yorkshire some £13 million more than its SSA.

The figures were revealed during a visit to the city by Ashford MP Damian Green, the Conservative Party's Shadow Spokesman on Education.

He said he was shocked by Bradford Council's education spending. "There's no point in a Labour Government saying their priority is education when Labour-controlled councils are not doing the same."

Spending up to its SSA would mean an extra £6.43 million added to the local education budget and that would make a huge difference to pupils at Bradford schools, he said.

A spokeswoman for Bradford's Education Department said the LEA could not comment on what other authorities spent. However, in the last few years the Council had suffered massive reductions in their grants from central government.

"The spending by other authorities is not an issue that we have researched.

"But the spending by Bradford on education has to be seen within the context of over £60 million worth of cuts in the last five years."

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