Project bank accounts are not being used on any education project procured using the Department for Education’s construction framework, a freedom of information (FOI) request has revealed.

In July 2012 the Cabinet Office published guidance saying the government construction board had decided in 2009 that all central government departments, their agencies and non-departmental bodies “move to a position where project bank accounts are adopted unless there are compelling reasons not to do so”. 

The FOI, which was carried out by chief executive of trade body Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Group Rudi Klein, has revealed that none of the 114 projects let under the Department for Education’s (DfE) construction framework used project bank accounts to guarantee prompt payment of suppliers.

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