You may have read in the press that the Government has been placing increasing pressure on local authorities to allocate additional education funding directly to schools rather than losing it in so-called red tape and bureaucracy . In fact, Hampshire County Council delegates the vast majority of funding directly to schools and has one of the most efficient administrations in the country.
Money held centrally is spent on critical services such as transport and special needs.
The Government issues league tables each year that compare the performance of local authorities in channelling their education budget straight to schools. Hampshire County Council has a good record of this, and performed very well against last year s targets, and against other education authorities. Here we take a closer look at where our education budget goes. Now let s take a closer look at two of the support services we provide. These crucial services are just two of the hidden costs that must be met by our education budget and we continue to monitor them as part of our Best Value process.