School PFIs plan to trial NHS LIFT model

A £2.5bn programme to upgrade the nation's secondary schools using the NHS LIFT initiative as its blueprint is to be launched next month with the announcement of two pathfinder projects.

This new form of schools PFI is being driven by schools minister David Milliband, who is keen to streamline the delivery of PFI schools projects before the next General Election.

The programme will see local education authorities (LEAs) forming joint venture companies with private sector consortia to deliver the building, refurbishment, management and maintenance of each LEA's entire secondary school stock over a 25-year period. LEAs will also be encouraged to consider joining forces with other LEAs to create massive cross boundary joint venture schools PFI projects.

Twenty LEAs are currently bidding for pathfinder status under the new programme. The first two pathfinder projects are expected to be announced early next month. If the pathfinders prove successful, this style of joint venture PFI will be extended nationally to all schools projects.

Jim Lockie, head of the Department for Education and Skills, (DfES) PFI unit, told CJ there had been a good deal of interest from LEAs. He added: "The bids are being looked at and we are hoping to choose a number of pathfinders shortly, so we can test out whether joint venture PFIs are a way of taking forward the schools PFI programme."

Those LEAs chosen as pathfinders will need to show that they can work successfully with the private sector and prove that they have the support of key stakeholders such as local councillors and school governing bodies.

Like NHS LIFT, the schools programme aims to speed up the delivery of PFI projects. Methods will include: bundling together all secondary schools in one or more LEA area; using standardised documentation; a more centralised form of procurement representing all key stakeholders; modular building methods; and a closer form of partnership with the private sector.

The DfES is also exploring the possibility of standardising schools design as a way of speeding up the procurement process under the joint venture PFI programme.

The joint venture schools PFI concept is also being test driven by 2,000 Church of England schools under a major programme put together by Partnerships UK and the DfES.

The programme, which advertised for advisers in the OJEC in November 2002, will see church schools bundled together regionally and let as NHS LIFT style contracts. Partnerships UK and the DfES have recently set up a joint venture company with the Church of England to deliver the programme. The joint venture is similar to Partnerships for Health, which oversees the NHS LIFT programme.