Mike Foster has responded to criticism fired at him for allegedly blaming teachers for the county's education funding crisis.

He said he welcomed the rise in the number of teachers and their salaries but added it had been a contributory factor in this year's funding problems.

The Worcestershire Heads Forum, with whom Mr Foster recently met, said it was "bitterly disappointed" by the MP's comments.

"I welcome the higher salaries and the fact we have got 500 more teachers in the county," said Mr Foster, a parliamentary aide in the Department for Education.

"To suggest that I don't welcome it is appalling and, having been a teacher myself, anybody who knows me and has discussed these issues knows where I stand."

Worcester MP Mr Foster said he had met with Worcestershire Heads Forum's Phil McTague to discuss the crisis.

The forum said the current funding crisis being experienced across Worcestershire schools was a result of several different elements coming together.

Contributions

Mr McTague said, among other things, the Government had increased the amount schools pay towards teacher's pensions by five per cent and there had been an increase in National Insurance contributions.

These had added more than 10 per cent to schools' costs before the pay settlement was added.

"The combined effect took fragile school budgets into the red, with around 100 Worcestershire schools placed in financial difficulty," said Mr McTague.

"Salaries in teaching have increased to address the national recruitment crisis in the profession.

"It seems strange that Mike Foster has chosen to attack one of the planks of Government policy introduced to meet the staffing crisis in schools.

"He has made the classic mistake of blaming schools as a cheap shot, instead of a forensic examination of the funding crisis."

But Mr Foster said it was never meant to be a criticism of Worcester schools, more a celebration of a rise in numbers, salaries and, ultimately, standards.

"I'm disappointed that people say it's a cheap shot attacking teachers when it's the opposite.

"That's a shame. What could be a good news story has somehow been portrayed as a bad news story."