Almost £1.7 million of taxpayers' money was spent on troublesome pupils in Sussex last year.

The vast majority - more than £1.5 million - was spent in West Sussex.

In 2005/6 West Sussex County Council spent £237,000 on excluding pupils and advising their parents, more than £1.2 million on pupil referral units - special schools mainly for disruptive children - and £66,000 on a behaviour support plan to help schools tackle poor behaviour.

East Sussex spent £16,000 on excluding pupils and £7,000 on referral units. Brighton and Hove spent just under £3,000 on excluding pupils, £100,000 on referral units and £30,000 on its support plan. The total bill for Sussex came to £1,692,193.

Mark Whitby, headteacher of the Alternative Centre for Education (ACE), which incorporates a pupil referral unit in Brighton, said the money was necessary to help children who might otherwise embark on a life of crime and anti-social behaviour.

He said: "Research shows that although this seems like a lot of money it's not compared with the overall cost of a child who goes on to commit crimes and antisocial behaviour."

He said excluded pupils often had additional and special educational needs and were just as deserving of extra funds as other special needs children.

However, Mr Whitby questioned the figures from Government - which show the total nationwide bill was £245 million. He said the pupil referral unit at ACE had a base budget of £120,000 and usually spent about £250,000 each year.

He said each pupil in full time education at the centre cost between £10,000 and £15,000 compared with £2,500 for children in mainstream schools.

Mark Dunn, West Sussex cabinet member for children's services, said 152 pupils were permanently excluded last year.

He added: "The local education authority has a duty to try to continue the education of excluded children. This means we employ teachers to work in very small groups or on a one-to-one basis but they are paid the same amount of money as teachers with a class of 30."