EDUCATION officials in Lancashire have been celebrating after it was revealed the county is one of the most efficient in the country.

According to the official figures. County Hall has one of the best records in England and Wales for cutting through red tape.

A league table published by the Department of Education and the Employment has ranked the county as one of the most efficient at spending money on pupils and not administration.

Lancashire has been rated as one of the best shire authorities in the UK and spends an average of £2,744 per pupil every year. The authority also spends one of the least amounts on administration per pupil at £35 per year.

Lancashire's education chairman Hazel Harding said: "I am proud of our excellent results which clearly show our commitment to spending money on pupils rather than red tape.

"We are driving down the cost of administration and increasing the amount of money for school budgets."

She added: "This is the second year the Government has put the country's LEAs on test by publishing performance tables and I am pleased to say Lancashire has passed with flying colours both times.

"We will press ahead with out work supporting schools using our lean and efficient administration, and I am confident we will meet even tougher targets next year."