NEW funding arrangements have delivered mixed results for Hampshire schools.

Schools in the county will receive £3,441 per pupil under the new dedicated schools grant - less than most other Local Education Authorities in the country.

However, Hampshire County Council has received more money from the Government than any other single authority from another scheme, the New Deal for Schools (NDS).

A league table produced by the Government for school funding for 2006 to 2007 shows that Hampshire falls 117th out of 149 Local Education Authorities in the grants ratings.

This is also less than the nearby authorities of Southampton and Portsmouth. Southampton is at number 52 in the table with funding of £3,697 per pupil, with Portsmouth just below at number 60 with £3,650 per head.

The results led Basingstoke's Conservative MP Maria Miller to criticise the way money has been handed out. She said: "While this is a slight improvement, I feel Hampshire schoolchildren are still getting a raw deal from the Government.

"Schools in Birmingham will receive £4,000 per pupil and schools in the City of London receive £6,708.

"So for a school of 1,600 pupils, a Birmingham headteacher will receive just less than £1million more than a Hampshire headteacher, and a school in the City of London will receive more than £5million more."

However, under the New Deal for Schools programme, the county has received a £23.3million investment in maintaining and improving schools in 2006/07. Of this, £12.6million will be spent on renovation work at more than 120 schools across the county.

The remaining £10.7million will be put towards funding extensions and other modernisation schemes.

Ken Thornber, leader of Hampshire County Council, voiced concerns over the failure of the NDS funding to keep pace with inflation, but admitted that the money had allowed the council to tackle large-scale repairs.

He said: "The NDS modernisation funding provides the county council with the opportunity to get large volumes of school repair and maintenance projects off the ground.

"Last year, we saw more than 112 schools benefit from £11.3million of repairs and redecoration. This year, around 120 schools are set to see improvements.

"The NDS funding has allowed the county council to move away from a patch-and-mend strategy and more towards planned programmes of major repairs and replacement."

First published: Tuesday, May 2, 2006