FOR many months, Prime Minister Tony Blair's "education, education, education" mantra has been echoed in Worcestershire with the refrain "funding, funding, funding".

Well, now the figures are in and, it would seem, that refrain has been answered - to an extent.

The news that Worcestershire's schools are set to receive an extra £14.3m from the Government next year as part of the overall local authority settlement can only be described as good news.

The financial crisis facing our education system had been worsening by the day, with nearly a fifth of schools predicting a deficit budget for 2003/04.

Everyone - parents, governors and councillors - were in agreement that Worcestershire's schools were unfairly funded in comparison to similar counties.

The 6.4 per cent increase in education cash is one of the biggest increases in the country - but only time will tell if it is enough to prevent the job losses and staff shortages that so many schools were facing unless extra money was forthcoming.

Yes, this money is a step in the right direction.

Yes, we understand that central Government does not have a bottomless pit of cash to hand out.

But will it be enough to avert our schools' funding crisis?

What will be the knock-on effect on other local authority services - for the elderly and the disadvantaged, for example?

The devil, as Worcester Labour MP Mike Foster says, will be in the detail.