A TEACHERS' union says it is concerned about the number of staff being targeted for redundancy despite an increase in school budgets.

Primary and secondary schools in Lancashire were told by the education authority last week that the overall rise in budgets for 1996/97 would be 5.1 per cent.

The authority also allocated additional funding of 0.2 per cent for teachers' salaries and agreed to retain £100,000 to provide some curriculum support for small secondary schools.

The Lancashire and Isle of Man NUT said it remains concerned about the number of schools and services which are still being forced to identify teachers for compulsory redundancies as a consequence of inadequate funding. It highlights the country's music service which it says used to employ 29 full-time teachers, but now has only 15 and relies on part-time and casual staff.

Spokeswoman Anne Waterhouse, said: "We recognise the difficulties faced by the LEA by the constraints on funding placed by central Government and welcome attempts to improve the situation in Lancashire schools.

"However, we remain concerned about the overall levels of funding for education.

"The pressures placed on schools are intolerable, and are made worse by the demands of Ofsted inspections.

"How can schools plan ahead when the funding situation is so variable?"

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