Personalised learning is the new classroom focus

Alistair Darling said this would provide a fund to ensure all children at school were ready to learn and benefit from personalised support.

An extra �200m of capital investment will go into building or refurbishing an additional 75 primary schools around the country by 2010-11.

The existing scheme aimed to rebuild or refurbish 600 schools by then.

The Treasury said one extra school would be built or refurbished in every local authority by 2010-11.

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Critics say this sort of geographical spread is done for political reasons rather than being based on where the refurbishment is most needed.

Further "value for money" reforms are also promised, to realise savings of �4.5bn by 2010-11.

These are to pay for one-to-one tuition for more than 300,000 under-attaining pupils a year in English and 300,000 in maths by 2010.

There are to be 3,500 Sure Start children's centres, one in every community, by 2010.

And the weekly entitlement for three and four year-olds to free early years education will rise from 12.5 hours to 15 hours.

Devolved

The chancellor's announcements related only to England - although he did not say so - because education is largely a devolved matter.

The increase for England's Department for Schools, Children and Families is �1bn by 2010-11.

So the new total is �75bn compared with �74bn announced in the March Budget.

Across the UK, education's increase above what was announced in the Budget is �2bn: up from �90bn to �92bn by 2010-11.

As a percentage of national wealth, measured by gross domestic product (GDP), this confirms UK education spending at 5.6% for the rest of the decade.