MIDDLE-class families in Worcestershire have monopolised the best schools, city MP Mike Foster claims.

He says that large schools in deprived areas are not receiving enough share of the county's pot of money.

But Worcestershire County Council says it is not true and Mr Foster was himself endangering the amount of funding received from central Government.

Mr Foster claimed that county education chiefs had failed to improve equal access to the most successful schools and had even made matters worse.

He told a Commons debate in Westminster Hall: "In Worcestershire, small schools receive overly generous financial settlements at the expense of those schools with deprivation needs.

"Deprivation is a very real issue in areas like mine but my local education authority singularly fails to respond to this. It has other priorities."

But Liz Eyre, Worcestershire County Council cabinet member for children's services, said: "He has no evidence. He is playing politics and it's not helpful.

"In Westminster he will say something but not only is he scoring points for himself, this may affect how the Government views us in terms of funding.

"There are schools in his constituency which have real challenges but he is looking at just one piece of

a jigsaw when there is a complicated wider picture."

Mrs Eyre said there was no suggestion that funding was skewed in favour of smaller schools in better-off areas.

She said: "There's a complicated mix of factors and city schools have more funding than almost anywhere else in the county."

The amount of funding schools receive depends on complicated formulae including the number of children with special needs and whether they have children centres attached.

Mr Foster will not join other Labour backbenchers preparing to rebel against the Government's White Paper on education reform.

During yesterday's speech he hailed controversial plans to strip LEAs of it control over schools as the key to fairer admissions for deprived children.

l Do you think middle-class children have monopolised the best schools? Tell us your views by writing to: letters@thisisworcester.co.uk or to: Letters, Worcester News, Hylton Road, Worcester, WR2 5JX.