By Lucy Phillips
8 April 2011
An independent review of capital spending on schools in England has given a damning verdict of the current system, claiming savings of almost a third could be achieved under a new model.
The review, published today, was commissioned by Education Secretary Michael Gove and carried out by Sebastian James, group operations director for the electrical retailer Dixons.
James concluded that the system of capital allocation and spending that had developed over the past decade was ‘cumbersome, time-consuming and frequently resulted in poor use of resources’.
There were too many different approaches to capital investment and the flagship Building Schools for the Future programme was, with hindsight, ‘expensive and did not get to schools with the greatest need fast enough’.
James’ cover letter to Gove, who scrapped the BSF almost immediately after entering government, said: ‘The schools building programme, Building Schools for the Future, has been one of epic proportions, at least in terms of money deployed. However, because procurement has not been sufficiently centralised, and because the government has not ensured that contracts are always negotiated by those who have the appropriate expertise, the public sector has failed consistently to get the value it should have done, given the commercial leverage that this scale of programme should command.’
Referring to the overall approach to capital investment, he wrote: ‘While the civil servants, local authorities and frontline professionals involved have done their best to administer the system they were asked to use, it is, in my view, the case that the system is not fit for purpose and has been working against them.’
The report, Review of education capital, recommended reforming the funding system to focus on ensuring that school buildings are in good condition and provide sufficient, appropriate and high-quality space for pupils. A more standardised design, centralised procurement and better accountability for building maintenance were all needed.
A pilot project in Doncaster showed that these changes could save up to 30%, the review panel said.
James conceded that putting his recommendations into practice would be ‘a major challenge’. He added: ‘I anticipate that, for some stakeholders in the process, there will be parts of my suggested approach that may be less palatable than others and that there will need to be some give and take.’
Welcoming the findings, Gove said: ‘The system we inherited had profound problems. We must have a system for school building which is much simpler, less bureaucratic, and which targets priority projects.’
Gove’s decision to scrap the BSF programme last year caused a huge backlash, prompting legal action from some local authorities.
