Education in Bradford has come in for a battering in the latest Audit Commission report published today.

The authority is at or near the bottom of the 36 metropolitan authorities in most fields of education covered in the survey.

It showed that Bradford was the lowest spender per primary-age pupil last year at £1,427 each, against a national average of £1,593 and a top amount in Newcastle of £1,797.

In secondary schools, the figure was again the lowest at £1,991 per child against an average of £2,229 and the top amount of £2,464 in Birmingham. The commission also revealed that only 25 per cent of pupils in Bradford schools passed five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C compared with the average of 35 per cent, with Solihull and Stockport managing a 50 per cent success rate. The lowest authority, with 24 per cent, was Knowsley on Merseyside.

Only 53 per cent of 11-year-olds reached national levels at their key stage two assessment in Bradford - the second lowest figure - compared with an average of 62 per cent and a top figure 74 per cent in Sefton, Merseyside.

The city had 71 per cent of under fives in nursery education compared with an average of 74 per cent, a top figure of 90 per cent plus and a bottom number 58 per cent.

Statements for children with special needs should be issued by councils with 18 weeks, but Bradford only hit the target 5 per cent of the time compared with one per cent in Barnsley, an average of 37 per cent and a top figure of 97 per cent in Newcastle.

Kathy Linfoot-Smith, special needs observer on the education committee said: "I am not surprised Bradford is struggling to fulfil the objectives.

"The office where these statements are written has been significantly under-funded and one post which should have been appointed last year wasn't. It is extremely difficult to meet targets without adequate staff."

National Union of Teachers' secretary Ian Murch said inner city Bradford had one of the highest concentrations of poor people with English as a second language, and reductions in funding during the past decade had made it difficult for the authority to tackle its under-achievement problems.

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