New schools plan hit by long delays

A MAJOR project to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in Oldham is “over-optimistic” and will be hit by severe delays, a Commons watchdog said today.

The powerful commons public accounts committee (PAC) report said the Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme “has been beset from the beginning by poor planning and persistent over-optimism”.

Cash for the building programme is being distributed in “waves”, with some parts of the country promised capital funding before others.

The Government last month gave the green-light to Oldham’s £230 million secondary schools overhaul which aims to be completed by 2014. Potential bidders will now be asked to tender for the contract to deliver the programme.

Three will be chosen to work with the council and schools to draw-up detailed designs, with one selected to build the schools next April.

But today’s report accuses the Department for Children, Schools and Families of creating national expectations of delivery that cannot be met.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said: “This has led to widespread disappointment in the rate at which schools are being completed, damaging confidence in the department’s ability to complete the programme by the revised date of 2023.”

Last year it was revealed there was a £3 billion national funding shortfall and many projects were put on hold.

Ministers originally pledged that 200 BSF schools would open by December 2008, but the report confirms only 42 had opened. It is thought the figure would not be reached until September 2010 — a delay of 21 months.

The target date for finishing all schools was put back to 2023.

Mr Leigh said: “The department and Partnerships for Schools must dispel the air of complacency which surrounds them — by indicating in detail how they propose to speed up the pace of delivery and finish the programme on time. It’s going to be a tall order to double the number of schools being procured and constructed.”

The report concluded it is too early to decide whether BSF will achieve its objectives but the over-optimism has meant the programme could not live up to expectations.