THE NUMBER of specialist teachers needed to teach foreign children English in Lancashire's schools has increased by 40 per cent since 2004.

Bosses at Lancashire County Council said the extra staff were needed due to the high number of East European arrivals.

And they have warned that while they were managing to keep pace with demand they may not be able to in future.

It comes after research this week revealed that more than a third of women and a quarter of men, who had migrated from Eastern European countries said they intended to stay here.

County council figures reveal that schools' requests for help for pupils has increased by 182 per cent since 2004, when Eastern European countries joined the EU - giving their people working rights in the UK.

In 2004/05 there were 178 requests. From September 2006 to present there have been 325.About eight per cent of children in council schools now speak a first language other than English.

In response to the increased demand the council has taken on six additional language tutors and three bilingual classroom assistants, bringing the total to 31. The department's wage bill is now £1.2million.

A report to the children and young people scrutiny committee stated: "The service is currently able to respond to schools' demands but growth in the number of requests is placing increasing pressure on a service which is facing reductions and uncertainty in funding from central government."

It states that the increasing number of families coming from the EU has had an impact on schools across the county.

And added: "Accurate data on the number and location of school age children from these families is very difficult to gather, but there is no doubt that numbers are increasing and that they are spread across Lancashire representing a significant demographic shift.

"This has been felt most acutely in the Catholic sector and small rural schools."