The statistics, published in Parliament, cover the total net budget foreducation, community, youth justice and children and young people'sservices for 2009/10 for all 55 single-tier authorities.
Budgets allocated by unitary authorities range from 2,490 inConservative-led Rutland, the smallest county in England, to 4,120 in Slough, a Labour authority.
Other relatively high spending authorities include Southend (3,950), Peterborough (3,770), Hartlepool (3,700) andBedford (3,620).
The figures do not include London boroughs or two-tier authorities.
Andrew Cozens, strategic adviser for children, adults and healthservices at the Improvement and Development Agency, said spending perchild can vary between different unitary authorities for a number ofreasons.
"The key element is the schools grant distribution formula, which leadsto enormous variations," he said.
"There will be other issues such as the numbers of children that arelooked after."
Other factors can include funding for specific pilot programmes that arenot nationwide schemes.
Cozens said around 75 per cent of unitary authority budgets for childrencome from central government compared to around 50 per cent for countycouncils.
The statistics show that overall spending on children's services bylocal authorities in England comes in at 41.4bn, an average of3,350 for each child in the country, 70 more than unitaryauthorities.
