Jarvis under fire over school delay

Jarvis has been criticised yet again following its failure to complete a school refurbishment scheme on time.

The contractor won a £55m improvement project encompassing eight schools in the Wirral, but has been attacked after it failed to finish work on five of them.

It is believed that the work, which should have been completed by the new school year, will take months longer than originally expected.

Jarvis has already faced criticism in recent months after quitting its railway maintenance contracts.

It has also been attacked for not completing work at 20 schools in Kirklees, while a new Jarvis school, the Jewish Free in Kernton, north London, had to be evacuated last week following safety fears over light fittings.

Labour MP Frank Field, who represents Birkenhead, said: "It's appalling what Jarvis has done to these local schools. We are having the same problems with these schools that the country had with Jarvis over the railways - delays, cancellations and excuses."

A spokeswoman for Jarvis said that some of the delays had been caused by asbestos found in buildings.

"We have apologised for them and taken action to mitigate the effect on pupils," she said.

The spokeswoman added that in the past year the firm had worked on seven projects involving more than 70 schools across the UK.