好色先生TV

Michael Gove has announced that 261schools will be rebuilt or improved through the government鈥檚 priority school building programme, roughly half the number of schools that bid for funding.

In a statement to parliament today, the education secretary said 587 schools had applied for capital investment through the government鈥檚 new  拢2bn Priority School 好色先生TV Programme (PSBP), with 261 schools given the green light to be鈥� rebuilt, or have their condition needs met鈥� (see list attached, right).

Gove said work would begin 鈥渋mmediately鈥� with the first schools to open in 2014.

However, Gove said that to address their 鈥渦rgent鈥� need, 42 schools in the programme 鈥� including 18 special schools - would receive capital funding in the form of a grant, rather than using the private finance initiative (PFI).

He said: 鈥淭his limited capital funding has become available by taking a more disciplined approach to managing my department鈥檚 capital budgets. Savings have been made by driving down the cost of new schools, shortening procurement times and challenging contractors to look for savings in all areas. These savings mean that more schools will benefit from the programme.鈥�

The move to delay the use of PFI in the programme comes after the government put PFI under review last year. However, ministers have previously said the PFI review would not impact on the school building programme.

Gove said: 鈥淚 have previously expressed my strong support for the government鈥檚 agenda on reforming the PFI model and we are working closely with the Treasury to ensure the PSBP is aligned with this model in providing cost effective and more and more transparent delivery of services.鈥�

The announcement on the schools that would be accepted into the PFI programme was initially expected last December but suffered a series of delays due to the high number of applicants and problems the government had with verifying the condition of the schools bidding for funding.

In his statement Gove said that in order to ensure the application process was 鈥渞obust and fair a qualified surveyor has visited every school for which an eligible application was received to verify the condition of the buildings鈥�.

鈥淭his was necessary to make sure the schools being taken forward are those with the greatest overall condition need,鈥� he said.

Gove added: 鈥淚 know that many schools will be disappointed not to be included in the programme. We have had to take difficult decisions in order to target spending on those schools that are in the worst condition.

鈥淚 recognise that many of the schools that applied to the PSBP and have been unsuccessful will also have significant condition needs. Some of those will have their needs addressed through the other funding we have made available for maintenance.

鈥淲here that is not the case, I will use the information from the national programme of surveys we are currently conducting to ensure that, subject to funds available in the next spending review period, those schools which need renovation will have their needs addressed as quickly as possible.鈥�

He said information from the national school building condition survey would be available 鈥渘ext autumn鈥�.