Education figures highlight funding gap in North Somerset

2.05.45pm GMT Thu 15th Jan 2009

Local schools are being denied fair funding by the Government to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, despite improving performances in today's exam results league tables.

Today's official figures show an average of 50.5% per cent of pupils in North Somerset left school with five good GCSEs - above the national average and in the top third of performances in the country.

However, Weston-super-Mare's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Mike Bell has said that the results could have been even better if the Government didn't underfund local schools.

He said: "Teachers across North Somerset work very hard to provide a high standard of education to students. They do so despite the fact that every school student in the district receives hundreds of pounds per year less in funding than the national average. Consecutive governments have underfunded education in North Somerset, and it's a funding gap that still makes a huge difference to Weston schools.

"For every school pupil in England, a local authority receives an average of £4,066 a year from the government, but in North Somerset the figure is just £3,757. The highest per pupil figure is the City of London, which receives £7,362 per pupil. The lowest is Leicestershire, which receives £3,596 per pupil.

"For Worle School - the best performer in Weston in today's tables - that means a quarter of a million pounds less funding that the average school every year. The government needs to give our local students a fair deal on funding. Our schools are amongst the best in the country, but they would be doing even better if they were funded fairly."