News story

4th February 2002

MP alarmed over Government "backtracking" over school funding

Northavon MP Steve Webb has expressed his alarm over a reply he has
received from the Department for Education, casting doubt over ambitious plans to modernise South Gloucestershire’s secondary schools. Shortly before Christmas, South Gloucestershire Council responded to a Government invitation to apply to be allowed to prepare a “private finance initiative” bid for major capital works on local schools. The top priority within the outline application from South Gloucestershire was a new secondary school for Bradley Stoke. Local MPs were encouraged by the Council to write to the Department for Education in support of this
outline bid, which Steve Webb did in early January.

The Northavon MP has now received a reply from the DfES which appears to be trying to lower expectations about the likely success of bids. The key sentences of the letter, from School Standards Minister Baroness Ashton, say: “As well as the expression of interest we received from South Gloucestershire LEA, we received numerous others from across the country. The value of bids received greatly outweighs the available resources, so it is inevitable that some strong projects will be unsuccessful in this round”.

No decision will be announced until March 2002, but it is clear that there
are likely to be several disappointed local authorities.

Commenting on the letter, Steve Webb said:

“Councils are severely restricted on the money that they can borrow to finance school building works, and are increasingly pressurised into drawing up partnership schemes with the private sector. But when councils do as they are expected to do, the Government then turns round
and says that even some “strong projects” may not be funded.

This is a crazy situation. As I have already stressed to ministers, there is a desperately urgent need to fund a new school for Bradley Stoke. Even if ministers give the go-ahead now, it will take years to jump through all the hoops and get a school built. If the Government turns down this bid it would be an absolute outrage”.

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