Gove stands by BSF decision

12 Jul 10
Education Secretary Michael Gove has defended his decision to axe the Building Schools for the Future programme, saying it was bureaucratic and wasteful
By Richard Staines

12 July 2010

Education Secretary Michael Gove has defended his decision to axe the Building Schools for the Future programme, saying it was bureaucratic and wasteful.

Under pressure from MPs in the House of Commons today, Gove blamed the previous Labour government for the more than 700 school redevelopment projects he has decided to scrap, because the programme had over-run and not provided value for money.

Too much money had been paid to private contractors, he said during education questions, and schools had been made to wait for the funding because the programme was too costly and bureaucratic.

He said that the responsibility lay with his predecessor, the former Labour schools secretary Ed Balls.

Gove said: ‘It was under him [Balls] that the cost of setting up the procurement vehicle was £10m, before a single brick was laid.’

He added: ‘We are clearing up his mess.’

But Balls hit back, criticising Gove for changing his mind about which schools were to lose the funding.

He referred to the confusion over which schools were having their BSF programmes protected and which were losing out.

Balls said: ‘You must now know there is widespread anger on all sides of the House.

‘Following weekend reports that you were advised by officials not to publish a list of schools at all, I wrote to you to request answers in advance of today's oral questions.

‘I have received a reply which does not answer any of my questions. It merely attaches a new list - list number five - which has 20 more official cancelled schools compared to a week ago.’

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