21 March 2008
About a third of Scotland's schools are still in a poor condition, despite billions of pounds of investment over the past decade, a major report by public sector watchdogs has found.
The Accounts Commission and the auditor general for Scotland carried out an extensive survey of schools. The joint report, Improving the school estate, published on March 20, calls on the Scottish government and councils to draw up detailed plans to make sure schools in need of improvement are brought up to standard.
It points out that since 2000, £3.9bn has been spent by the government and councils on improving the schools estate, and this was expected to have increased to more than £5.2bn by April 2008.
The watchdogs add: 'It is estimated that at current rates it will take another 20 years to make all schools fit for purpose.'
Hundreds of schools have been built or refurbished in the past ten years, the report notes. But the survey identified a number of problems, including design, over-heating, ventilation and environmental concerns.
The Scottish Executive began a programme of school building and renewal in the late 1990s, including the promise of financial support for councils that used the Private Finance Initiative.
Since 2003, a new strategy has aimed to raise the quality of the estate over a period of ten to 15 years, so that no school would be unsuitable. However, this did not have clear and consistent definitions for refurbishment, renewal or improvement so it was not possible to measure exactly how many schools across Scotland had been improved, the report states.
Accounts Commission chair John Baillie said councils needed to devise their financial strategies carefully, paying particular attention to future costs and to ensuring they were able to adapt to changing needs, such as pupil numbers, curriculum changes and community needs.
Auditor general Bob Black said: 'The national strategy should be reviewed, using the better information that is now available to specify the performance targets of the programme. Particular attention needs to be paid to future costs and how the remaining improvements will be financed.'
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