Wed, 6 Aug 2008 11:01

An average of £473 is spent every year on new school uniforms and PE kit for every state school child in the UK, says a new report.

The results of new research by Asda have revealed that over £10 billion is spent annually on UK state schooling paraphernalia, the Financial Times reports.

The clothing cost represents the largest outlay of the overall £1,077 needed to put individual children through their school year but it has been found that state schools are playing a significant part in taming overall inflation.

The comparatively gentle increase in the price of state schooling is being attributed to a general down turn in the cost of clothing which has helped to keep the price of new school kit relatively low.

Conversely, the cost of school meals, which represent another large slice of the overall cost of schooling, has risen by 3.8 per cent in parallel to the global food price index which can be swayed by fuel and other distribution costs.