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Schools Building Programme

05/09/10 - Sandwell Conservative defects over schools cuts - A Conservative councillor has defected to Labour over cuts to the government's schools building programme.

6th August 2010 - Rebuild plans for 75 schools scaled back - More schools are set for disappointment after the government said 75 academy rebuild projects are likely to be scaled back, a month after it scrapped England's school rebuilding scheme.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said the schools would not be proceeding in their present form and instead face further review.

But a further 33 schools and 44 academy projects will proceed as planned.

It comes after more than 730 school rebuilds were scrapped last month.

Mr Gove announced he was axing the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme a month ago.

Read more... (BBC News - 6 August 2010)

Gove's green light for school rebuilds. (The Independent - 7 August 2010)

Gove: BSF sample projects get go-ahead and further confirmation given to academies. (DFE - 6 August 2010)

5th July 2010 - With Labour's 'Building Schools for the Future' (BSF) being scrapped today by the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, he has set out a complete overhaul of capital investment in England’s schools.

Bringing an end to the BSF programme, he said “In the light of the public finances, it would have been irresponsible to carry on regardless with an inflexible, and needlessly complex programme.”

The key elements of the announcement to Parliament are:

44 existing Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects which had reached financial close will continue, alongside sample projects from a further 14 close to this stage. This means that over 700 schools and academies will continue with their building, rebuilding and refurbishment plans.

All other 58 BSF projects covering nearly 700 schools will be cancelled with immediate effect. Rebuilding and refurbishment projects in these local authorities may go ahead under future capital investment programmes, shaped by the capital review – but they will no longer be funded under the existing programme.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “The Secretary of State has acted in the best interests of the country and whilst we understand people’s disappointment, this was the right thing to do to help cut the record deficit we now face.

“The capital review will look as all possible options for moving forward. This is not the end of school building, just the end of the wasteful and bureaucratic BSF programme.”

New Announcement

The Government is launching a comprehensive Review of all capital investment in schools, early years, colleges and sixth forms.

Led by Sebastian James, Group Operations Director of DSG international plc, the Review team includes:

Kevin Grace, Tesco - Director of Property Services
Barry Quirk, Chief Executive of Lewisham Council
John Hood former Vice-Chancellor of University of Oxford, and
Sir John Egan, former Chief Executive of Jaguar and BAA.

The review will guide future spending decisions over the next Spending Review period (2011-12 to 2014-15). It will look at how best to meet parental demand; make current design and procurement cost-effective and efficient; and overhaul how capital is allocated and targeted.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “The Secretary of State has acted in the best interests of the country and whilst we understand people’s disappointment, this was the right thing to do to help cut the record deficit we now face.

“The capital review which is currently underway will look as all possible options for moving forward. This is not the end of school building, just the end of the wasteful and bureaucratic BSF programme.”

Sample Documents

Building Schools For The Future - A Strategy for change - Turning Vision into Reality (For info only)

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