Press Release - The Building Schools for the Future
Programme: renewing the secondary school estate
12 February 2009
The Building Schools for the Future
programme aims to rebuild, refurbish and provide new Information
Technology for all 3,500 secondary schools in England by 2020. The
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) underestimated
how long it would take to launch the programme and build the
schools, though the speed of delivery has compared well with
previous school building programmes.
78 per cent of Local Authorities
and 86 per cent of companies involved in the Building Schools for
the Future (BSF) programme believe that it is leading to more
strategic procurement of school infrastructure than previous school
building programmes. Local Authorities are using BSF to rearrange
the location, type and number of schools in their area and create
facilities and school environments which support their educational
objectives. BSF schools are built to higher specifications and
space standards than previous schools; though until post occupancy
reviews take place a year after each opens it will be too early to
say whether they will meet user expectations.
However, DCSF and Partnerships for
Schools (the body established by DCSF to manage the BSF programme
centrally) were too optimistic in their assumptions of how quickly
the first schools could be delivered. By December 2008, only 42 of
the planned 200 schools had been built, with 54 due to open next
year and 121 the year
after. To include all schools in the programme, 250 schools will
need to be built a year and the number of schools in procurement
and construction at any one time will need to double from 2011
onwards. The extent to which problems in the finance markets will
affect BSF is still unclear.
DCSF and Partnerships for Schools
estimate that the total cost of renewing the school estate will be
between £52 billion to £55 billion which is £7 billion to £10
billion more than was estimated at the outset of the programme.
DCSF has increased the scope of the programme and building cost
inflation has been higher than originally estimated, but the cost
of individual schools has been contained at a level similar to
previously built PFI schools.
Local Education Partnerships are
joint ventures between Local Authorities, BSF and the private
sector to help procure and maintain BSF schools. Early evidence
shows that Local Education Partnerships can lead to time and cost
savings, but the first Local Education Partnerships found it
difficult to establish effective working arrangements and cost more
to establish than they necessary.
Tim Burr, head of the
National Audit Office, said today:
"Building Schools for the
Future is a highly ambitious £55 billion programme. Converting that
ambition to reality requires robust planning, close cost control
and making a success of complex long-term partnerships.
Partnerships for Schools and the Department were too optimistic in
their early plans though programme management has since improved.
But it remains a real challenge, in difficult market conditions, to
deliver the 250 schools a year that will be needed, to include all
schools by 2020 as currently planned."
Notes for Editors:
-
Press notices and reports are available from the date of
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The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr, is the head of
the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He and the
NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 10/09
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