WORCESTERSHIRE was awarded more than £7m today for improved school buildings and better access for disabled pupils.

The county council will receive £5.96m from a £512m fund for building projects to create more pupil places.

It has also been allocated £1.048m under the £100m School Access initiative, to allow disabled youngsters to attend mainstream schools.

Worcester MP Mike Foster welcomed the grants, which come one day before a Westminster debate on last month's funding increase for the county's schools.

Ministers have come under fire on the grounds that the 6.1 per cent increase is smaller than for other West Midlands councils, such as Birmingham. The settlement was described as "disappointing" by council officials and Tory MP Peter Luff.

Mr Foster pointed out that Worcestershire had received a bigger share of today's funding pot than Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Solihull, Stoke, Walsall, Warwickshire and Wolverhampton.

"This investment is a huge boost to local schools," said the MP, a Parliamentary aide in the Department for Education and Skills.

"There is a massive backlog of under-investment from the 18 years of poor Tory funding and this is being put right.

"We need to transform our schools - to make them centres of excellence for learning, and a place where teachers are proud to teach."

But Mid-Worcestershire MP Mr Luff was not as impressed.

"This money does not address the fundamental problem that Worcestershire has been short-changed by the funding formula," he said.

"We should not have to rely on special little funding pots which are of no relevance to school funding."

Herefordshire will receive £2.017m for school buildings and £287,000 to improve access for the disabled.

The Government says it will spend £3.8bn on capital projects in schools in 2003/4, compared to £700m in 1996/7, before it came to power.

David Miliband, the Schools Minister, said the increased level of funding reflected "a continuing strong commitment to ensuring schools offer an environment that supports higher standards".

"It will be good news for pupils, parents and teachers, governors and local education authorities," he added.

Further cash announcements for new buildings will be made in March, including under the controversial Private Finance Initiative.