By Gavin Mackintosh-
Lack of interest from contractors to build and design 277 new batches of schools has contributed to an under spending and delayed the project by over five years, the Department of Education has admitted, as they announced a delay to the ambitious project.
“This has resulted in delays against our internal delivery programme, expenditure slipping backwards and an increase in the overall cost to deliver the programme,” the British government said The flagship government school building programme fell below its expected spending value by more than 64 per cent 2016-17, and will now not be completed on time, the Department for Education has admitted. The news is disappointing, but at least means the funds are still available for the job to be completed well by a later date.
The government now believes PSBP1- the first phase of the priority school building programme of schools- will be completed by September 19 2021, and PSBP2-the second phase, also known as PSBP2- by December 31 2022.The second phase o PSBP2 programme was assigned to the rebuilding or refurbishing of buildings at 277 schools by the end of 2021. Data published by the DfE today shows that, as a result of over-ambitious forecasts, the £77 million investment planned for 2016-17 was under spent by more than £50 million, and the completion date has been pushed back to December 2022.
The project has been given an “amber/red” rating in the department’s latest “major project portfolio data” release. The government said the forecasts had been heavily ambitious, stating that the roll-out of PSBP2 was supposed to be smoother, but it “immediately became clear” .This is because a large number of PSBP2 projects were refurbishment works, and feasibility studies “were more complex” compared to PSBP1, which meant they lasted longer.”
Progress on the first phase of the priority school building programme, dubbed PSBP1, is rated “amber/green” by the department.However, the government continues to experience “a lack of interest from contractors in the new batches of schools being released into procurement and contractors continue to seek additional funding”.
The ongoing project to build new schools is in line with long term plans to boost secondary school education with a broad range of skilled teachers committed to the project of equipping pupils for the new higher level of education to make Uk secondary education competitive with other high levels of education in other parts of the world. England still provides one of the best standards of University education in the world, but for man years have only provided very good levels of private school secondary education, leaving many state schools behind when it comes to delivering similarly high standards.
Many state secondary schools in the Uk have always been of a high standard, but many more across London and the North Of England have struggled to deliver high standards for many reasons. The new higher standard exams at Primary school sats, G.C.S.E, and A levels, have called for higher level teaching and better quality staff to prepare students well for those exams.
The government now expects PSBP1 to be completed by September 19 2021, and PSBP2 by December 31 2022. The priority building programme needs to be hurried but done well, so that more pupils can receive a good education.
Pic Credit:Uca.org