BSF consultation could create education work glut earlier than expected

Contractors could take advantage of billions of pounds worth of education work much sooner than expected if proposals in a government consultation published today are accepted.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) wants to accelerate entry to its £45bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, in a bid to sign up 76 local authorities as soon as possible.

The proposal was floated in a consultation on waves 7-15 of BSF, published today.

Waves 1-6 have seen 1,000 school building projects take off in 72 local authorities.

The Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) said today that although wave 7 will be launched in early 2009, with funding coming on stream in 2011, other local authorities would not see any BSF building project start until wave 15 under current plans.

But it now wants to speed up the entire process. In the consultation published today it proposed that:

• All local authorities would have a chance to join BSF as soon as they have strong plans to deliver at least an initial, streamlined project of four or five schools.
• BSF will have a wider range of criteria to decide how projects should be prioritised – including areas with major social regeneration and development projects; schools with the poorest infrastructure to avoid costly short-term patch and mend; and areas which are planning wider community facilities, including Children’s Centres, extended school facilities and broader provision for young people.
• Local authorities will join BSF in a rolling programme when they are ready – rather than waiting for formal, set year-on-year launches.
• Some projects will no longer be required to include schools in the same geographical part of a local authority area.
• Neighbouring local authorities should work closer in setting up Local Education Partnerships (LEPs), to get the most efficient procurement, planning and building programmes in place.

Schools minister Jim Knight said: “The early waves of BSF have already wider local authority areas with the highest level of need. We now want to target children and schools with the greatest needs, wherever they live, to benefit as soon as possible.

“Instead of waiting, we want to give them more scope to target pockets of deprivation and underperforming schools now – by giving the remaining local authorities the chance of early entry as soon as they are ready.
 
“Now that local authorities’ original expressions of interest are over four years old it is right to take stock again – to reflect our 14-19 reforms; the expanded academy programme; extended schools facilities; and ambition for housing wider community provision within schools to be the norm."

The DCSF claimed that overall schools annual capital spending this year will be £6.669billion, rising to £8.235billion in 2010-11.