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Thursday 12th February 2009
12 February 2009
The government's flagship schools building and renovation programme is unlikely meet its target, which has been described as "fanciful" by the head of the Public Accounts Committee.
Four years into the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF), only 42 schools have opened. Nonetheless, the Department for Children, Schools and Families remains confident that it will manage to open 250 schools each year after 2011. "Given the rate of progress so far, this seems fanciful," said Edward Leigh, MP and chairman of the PAC.
In a written statement commenting on a National Audit Report, he said that BSF programme depends on "highly complex delivery arrangements requiring buy-in from a whole host of public and private sector parties". Managing this is a "key risk", he noted.
But the programme has been beset by optimism from the outset with the DCSF setting unrealistic targets. "It underestimated both how long it would take to deliver refurbished or rebuilt schools and how much the programme would cost. It should come as no surprise therefore, that the programme is behind schedule and its cost is burgeoning. This has increased to between £52 billion and £55 billion".
DCSF now needs to ensure that it lives up to the tough targets it has set itself, he said.
In 2003, the DCSF launched BSF aimed to renew all 3,500 English secondary schools over the 15-years between 2005 and 2020, subject to future public spending decisions. It plans to entirely rebuild half the school estate, structurally remodel 35 per cent and refurbish the rest. Refurbishment includes providing new ICT to recently built schools. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning and maintaining the schools. The DCSF created Partnerships for Schools (PfS) to manage the programme centrally.
BSF relies on long-term partnering efficiencies between the public and private sectors, usually through the establishment of local joint ventures called Local Education Partnerships. LEPs have exclusive rights for 10 years to deliver new and refurbished school facilities and related services. LEPs also centrally manage the programme, coordinate and support local strategic decision making and school building and refurbishment projects.
At issue has been getting LEPs set up, the NAO report notes. The programme now includes the majority of local authorities but scaling it up to deliver all 3,500 new or refurbished schools will be challenging.
As of December 2008, PfS has been working with the majority of Local Authorities to develop their schools. Fifty-four schools are due to open in 2009 and 121 in 2010 with all secondary schools by 2020. The number of schools in procurement and construction at any one time will need to double over the next three years. "Consequently, there will need to be an increase in the availability of procurement and project management skills, which are in short supply at present," the report says.
The government's flagship schools building and renovation programme is unlikely meet its target, which has been described as "fanciful" by the head of the Public Accounts Committee.
Four years into the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF), only 42 schools have opened. Nonetheless, the Department for Children, Schools and Families remains confident that it will manage to open 250 schools each year after 2011. "Given the rate of progress so far, this seems fanciful," said Edward Leigh, MP and chairman of the PAC.
In a written statement commenting on a National Audit Report, he said that BSF programme depends on "highly complex delivery arrangements requiring buy-in from a whole host of public and private sector parties". Managing this is a "key risk", he noted.
But the programme has been beset by optimism from the outset with the DCSF setting unrealistic targets. "It underestimated both how long it would take to deliver refurbished or rebuilt schools and how much the programme would cost. It should come as no surprise therefore, that the programme is behind schedule and its cost is burgeoning. This has increased to between £52 billion and £55 billion".
DCSF now needs to ensure that it lives up to the tough targets it has set itself, he said.
In 2003, the DCSF launched BSF aimed to renew all 3,500 English secondary schools over the 15-years between 2005 and 2020, subject to future public spending decisions. It plans to entirely rebuild half the school estate, structurally remodel 35 per cent and refurbish the rest. Refurbishment includes providing new ICT to recently built schools. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning and maintaining the schools. The DCSF created Partnerships for Schools (PfS) to manage the programme centrally.
BSF relies on long-term partnering efficiencies between the public and private sectors, usually through the establishment of local joint ventures called Local Education Partnerships. LEPs have exclusive rights for 10 years to deliver new and refurbished school facilities and related services. LEPs also centrally manage the programme, coordinate and support local strategic decision making and school building and refurbishment projects.
At issue has been getting LEPs set up, the NAO report notes. The programme now includes the majority of local authorities but scaling it up to deliver all 3,500 new or refurbished schools will be challenging.
As of December 2008, PfS has been working with the majority of Local Authorities to develop their schools. Fifty-four schools are due to open in 2009 and 121 in 2010 with all secondary schools by 2020. The number of schools in procurement and construction at any one time will need to double over the next three years. "Consequently, there will need to be an increase in the availability of procurement and project management skills, which are in short supply at present," the report says.