A COUNCIL has been criticised after sending 35 council staff on a £250,000 'fact-finding mission' to the United States.

Twenty-seven teachers and eight council representatives attended the two-week 'emotional resilience' programme in Philadelphia.

Bosses at South Tyneside Council claim the lessons learned from world-renowned programme could bring significant improvements to the lives of children.

But Independent councillor George Elsom has described the cost as "ludicrous" - questioning why a handful of representatives were not sent to assimilate the information and report back to other staff.

The course covers areas such as improving school attendance, cutting mental health problems among the young, reducing bullying and anti-social behaviour and improving educational attainment.

A council spokesman said the internationally-renowned programme had the "potential to make a profound difference to the lives of young people".

But Mr Elsom, Independent councillor for the West Park ward in South Shields, said he was appalled at the cost of the trip.

"To spend almost a quarter-of-a-million pounds to send 35 people on this programme is unbelievable, why did so many go?" he added.

"Surely they could have sent a couple of teachers who could then have assimilated the information and reported back to all the others through written material and videos.

"This money would have been much better spent on courses for kids in the summer or on working with the police on tackling anti-social behaviour. There's are so many ways it could have been put to better use."

The council chose to use money from the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund to cover the cost of the trip.

It is cash allocated to some of the country's most deprived areas to reduce crime and improve educational and housing standards.

Last November the council was allocated £15.65m from the fund to be spent over the next two years.

A spokesman for South Tyneside Council said: "The programme did not cost local Council Tax payers anything because it was paid for through the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund allocated by the Local Strategic Partnership to the learning and progression programme.

"The training prepares the teachers and advisors to implement the programme over the years to come and includes all the professional input and materials from the university.

"The university's input will continue during the year. This will include conference calls and supervision sessions."

A council spokesman added: "Together with Manchester and Hertfordshire councils we are working with the number one expert in the world, Professor Martin Seligman, who is based in Philadelphia.

"Evidence from Prof Seligman's early work shows that a programme such as this one cuts depression rates and incidents of anti-social behaviour among teenagers by half. It also has a direct impact on education, attendance, attainment and the quality of life in local neighbourhoods.

"The group has gone to the States as it is more cost effective for UK teachers to be trained in Philadelphia than to bring Martin Seligman and his team of specialists to the UK, particularly given the strength of the pound against the dollar at this point in time.

"We believe this programme will be a sound investment for the future as a fifth of all teenagers nationally are diagnosed as suffering from anxiety or a mental health issue, which is a major concern to all organisations that work with young people."