Education Secretary David Blunkett today stepped in to the escalating row over proposed education spending cuts in North Yorkshire.

Mr Blunkett has written to the county council's chairman, David Ashton, saying he expects the authority to spend the Government's £12.9 million increase in its education allocation on schools - and nothing else.

The cash-strapped council is proposing to allocate only £11.4 million of the 6.3 per cent increase to schools in a bid to bridge a £3 million funding gap in social services.

But Mr Blunkett told Coun Ashton, who is also the council's Conservative group leader, that he expects every local education authority - of whatever political control - to ensure the Government's increased allocation is spent on education.

He said the scale of the standard spending assessment increases was sufficient to enable County Hall to give schools their full allocation without other services suffering.

Mr Blunkett added: "Parents, teachers, governors and other electors will be looking to local councillors of all political parties to take the necessary decisions when it comes to setting education budgets, and preparing young people for the next millennium."

In a letter to Selby MP John Grogan, Mr Blunkett said he had written to all council leaders, making it clear the education cash increase should be used to support education services.

Mr Grogan said he was delighted with the Education Secretary's stance.

He said: "Councillor Ashton should also insist that administration officer posts at Northallerton are frozen, so that all the extra cash is allocated to front line services.

"Overall, the county has had the most generous local government settlement for a decade."

An angry Coun Ashton accused Mr Grogan of distorting the true picture, and bringing unfair criticism on the council. He said the county needed an extra £15 million to maintain current education services, so the £13 million allocation represented a 1.5 per cent government cut to schools' budgets.

Coun Ashton added: "What is more, we cannot even spend all of the £13 million on education because of the massive £3 million government cuts to North Yorkshire social services.

"We have been left with a massive struggle just to keep social services afloat. The council has been put in an impossible position.

"If Mr Grogan really wants to do something about this funding crisis, he should ask his colleagues in the Labour Government to find the money we so desperately need."

The final decision on the budget recommendations will be taken at a meeting of the full council on February 17.

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