EAST Lancashire schools spent more than £3.4million on supply teachers last year, new figures have revealed.

Shuttleworth College, in Padiham, spent £370,570, the highest amount, while Tauheedul Islam High School For Girls, in Blackburn, did not use any of its budget on cover.

Secondary schools in England spent £293million on supply teachers last year, an average of £100,000 per school, according to a report from the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

Education bosses said some schools could reduce supply teacher costs by employing cover supervisors who step into classes when a member of staff is off.

But other schools use supply teaching agencies when teachers are sick.

In Blackburn, with Darwen, £698,282 was spent on supply teachers, with Our Lady and St John Catholic College spending the highest amount of £182,640.

The council said the total supply costs amounted to 0.14per cent of the total schools budget.

In Lancashire, Shuttleworth College paid the most with £370,570, and Bowland High School spent the lowest at £16,885.

Coun Maureen Bateson, executive member for children’s services at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said: “Schools have their own delegated budgets and make their own decisions.

“There are many reasons why schools employ supply teachers.

“As a council we would hope they would use their budgets prudently and effectively to achieve the best for young people and the council offers support to enable them to achieve this.”

Dave Hewitt, Lancashire County Council’s head of human resources for Lancashire’s schools said: “Schools are directly responsible for their own budgets.

“They make their own arran-gements to cover for absent teachers, and decide how much they choose to spend on supply cover, and where they obtain it from.

“Headteachers will base their decision on how to fill in for an absent colleague on the specific circumstances in their school.

“For instance, some schools employ cover supervisors on a permanent basis, while others engage supply teachers, as and when they need them.

“Advice and support are always available to headteachers from the county council.

“We also have our own supply teaching agency that can quickly provide high-quality supply cover to a school, whenever they need it.”