Run-down schools still waiting 
for repair 
funding

A survey shows that of 20 schools which were included in the Government’s Priority School Building programme, only four have had work procured and seven have heard nothing at all about when they will receive the promised money.

The Local Government Association (LGA) received responses from 158 of the 261 schools nationally included in this scheme which was launched after Ministers had controversially axed Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

The LGA poll shows that of the 158 schools nationally only 19 have had any work procured, 92 have been contacted by the Education Funding Agency regarding work, but some 66 (45 per cent) have heard nothing at all.

Announcing the successful bidders for inclusion in the Government’s Priority School Building programme in May last year, Education Secretary Michael Gove said he was speeding up the refurbishment process, adding: “Work will begin immediately and the first schools will be open in 2014.”

Education Minister David Laws insisted yesterday that work on the highest-priority projects was “ahead of schedule”, with the first rebuilt schools set to open their doors in September next year.

But he said the programme was always intended to take five years to complete, with work starting immediately only in the 42 schools which have qualified for direct Government funding because of their urgent need for improvements. The other 219 projects will be funded by private finance and may not be completed until 2017.

Coun David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA’s children and young people board, said: “The announcement of much-needed funding to fix hundreds of the country’s most crumbling schools was a positive move, but that was last summer and many parents are still none the wiser about when their child’s school will be brought up to scratch.

“This situation is now unacceptable and threatens to severely impact on our children’s education. Councils are stepping in to keep schools running while Government struggles to get its act together. Heads and parents are telling us that the condition of some schools is so bad it’s getting in the way of providing a good education.”

Schools which have not heard about their funding were in Bradford, Doncaster, the East Riding and North East Lincolnshire. Only two schools in the East Riding and two more in Sheffield have had work procured.