Partnerships for Schools to lead all school schemes

Delivery body Partnerships for Schools is to take on all school building and refurbishment programmes from the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Schools minister Vernon Coaker is due to announce today that the body will take over the management and delivery of the department’s schemes from 1 October.

The programmes in question include:

Primary Capital Programme: funding for national primary school building programme earmarked in every local authority;

Devolved Formula Capital: funding for local authorities and heads which is spent on locally decided priorities;

Targeted Capital Programmes: funding for a wide range of targeted projects aligned to specific policies including zero-carbon exemplar schools and school kitchens.

The total value of the programmes transferring to PfS is £15.6bn up to 2011.

Speaking during a visit to BSF school Beaumont Leys today, Vernon Coaker said: “It is plain common sense for all our capital programmes to now come under a single umbrella, including the Primary Capital Programme which has now started in earnest this year. Local authorities, schools and all our partners want one point of contact for all their school building work – and today’s announcement will make all our programmes more effective, efficient, streamlined and accountable.”

Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, added: “These changes represent a move towards greater join-up in the delivery of investment and we look forward to building on our relationships with local government and the private sector to achieve this to the benefit of children, parents, teachers and local communities across England.”