Fife Council's Education Service will be working hard to bring down a projected overspend before the end of the financial year, as they have managed to do in previous years, with much greater overspends.

The Education and Children's Services Committee this morning heard that the service has a projected overspend of £2.17 million.

A large part of the overspend was the result of unexpected increases in inflation which had a huge impact on PPP repayments and insurance costs, but senior managers are also looking at a number of ways to make the service more efficient.

Councillor Douglas Chapman, Chair of the Education and Children's Services Committee, said: "Although this projected overspend is disappointing it is a very small percentage of the service's overall budget of £304 million, which we increased by £7.4m this year.

"The efficiencies we are asking the service to make will not have a bearing on the quality of the learning and teaching experience for our children and we will not be imposing saving s on schools. This is about the central service providing better value for money and managing budgets more efficiently.

"We have put more money into education this year than has ever been spent before, with reduced class sizes in primary schools and plans for six new school buildings across Fife, increased money for transportation costs and a complete upgrade of the schools' information systems.

"These investments are already beginning to show. The Education Service itself received a glowing report from HMIe earlier this year and attainment results have risen markedly in schools across the Kingdom."

A workforce planning strategy begun in 2006 has so far been very successful and will in the future further reduce staffing costs. Absence is also having an impact on the budget but councillors were told Fife's education staff absence rates were in line with those elsewhere in Scotland, and actually some of the lowest within Fife Council. The problem for Education is that when a teacher is absent they must be replaced by another teacher and this incurs costs.

Councillor Chapman said: "Improving attainment and achievement for all is, and will continue to be, one of our key priorities within Fife Council. The education of our children is something which cannot be undervalued and we are committed to providing the best education possible for all Fife's young people, and that is reflected in our decision to protect school budgets.

"The service had a much larger projected overspend two years ago but managed to come back within budget by the end of the year and I'm confident the management will reduce this overspend significantly by the end of the financial year."