PRIMARY school pupils in Worcestershire are taught in some of the smallest class sizes in the West Midlands, figures reveal.

The county has an average of 25.3 pupils per class, less than the national average, and is only beaten locally by Herefordshire, which has an average of 24.4 pupils per class.

The figures come after a report revealed that class sizes in British state primary schools are still among the highest in the developed world despite increased Government spending.

Only Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Brazil, Chile and Israel have larger groups than the average 25.8 pupils in UK state classrooms, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said.

This was despite the fact that spending per student in the UK in primary, secondary and higher education was higher than the OECD average.

Coun Liz Eyre, cabinet member for children's services at Worcestershire County Council, said: "You would expect class sizes to be lower in Worcestershire because we are a rural county.

"We have a high number of very small schools, but this can also mean there are mixed age groups in classes. It is good that we are doing well to keep class sizes down."

Authors of the annual "Education at a Glance" report, which looks at statistics from 2005 or earlier covering all levels of education, did say that overall the UK was performing "strongly".

The Government said that although primary classes were above average, there had been a downward trend since 1997 along with improvements in the "pupil-to-adult ratio".

In pre-school education Britain now comes top for spending, with more invested per child than any other nation.

Extra money had also been spent on improving teaching salaries, which before had lagged behind other nations, the authors said.

Worcester MP Mike Foster, a former teacher, said schools in the county had benefited significantly from increased Government spending.

He said: "Since 1997 the number of teachers in Worcestershire has gone up by 593 and the number of teaching assistants has gone up by 2,511.

"Funding per pupil has gone up from £1,367 to £3,094. This shows that schools and headteachers are spending the money on employing more teachers and bringing down class sizes, which is why Worcestershire is below the national average."