A London council has ruled out using public money to help recession-hit parents to pay private school fees.

Local authorities have reported increased pressure on school places

Bromley Council leader Stephen Carr said officers had "felt duty bound" to consider the idea following a question put at a council meeting in June.

The council's education director, Gillian Pearson, earlier said the idea was getting " full consideration".

Schools are facing increased demand for places, partly as families abandon private education to save money.

On Tuesday evening, Mr Carr said: "I would like to make it perfectly clear that Bromley Council has no plans to introduce such a scheme, but quite rightly, as a result of a question put at a full council meeting at the end of June, officers felt duty bound to consider this, as is good practice."

There was "no suggestion that this will be pursued", he added.

Newspaper report

Ms Pearson, the council's director of children and young people services, had earlier said: "We are at the early exploration stage in considering this issue as part of our overall annual review of school places and school organisation.

"As with any proposal of this type, we will give full consideration to all the key factors, which would include the educational case, the need in terms of place planning, the associated costs, the legal framework and other local authority practice."

Education funding to councils is mainly passed on to head teachers to spend, although local authorities retain some to fund areas including free school meals, private special needs school places, or for "exceptional circumstances".

London's Evening Standard newspaper had reported that Bromley asked its lawyers to look at whether it could use state funding to offer subsidies of up to £4,700 per pupil.

Schools minister Iain Wright said: "Councils rightly have some flexibility in how they use the cash at a local level but ultimately they must satisfy themselves that they can justify the way the money is spent to local parents, especially in the current economic climate."

(www.eduwo.com, Jainlyn&Charlotte)