Schools Building Programme Could Be Over Budget By £10 Billion

According to a National Audit Office report published today, the Building Schools for the Future programme could be between £7-10billion over budget.In the report the Department for Children, Schools (DCSF) and Family and Partnership for Schools (PsS) admitted the programme was over budget.

The National Audit Office (NAO) report has found that of 200 schools that should have been finished by the end of 2008, only 42 were completed.It also revealed that plans for the new schools were taking 18 months longer than expected to develop and that the programme would have a final bill of £52-55 billion.

NAO head Tim Burr said: 'Partnerships for Schools and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) were too optimistic in their early plans.'

Edward Leigh, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said the DSCF's claims that it would open 250 schools a year by 2011 were 'fanciful'. '[The DCSF] underestimated both how long it would take to deliver refurbished or rebuilt schools and how much the programme would cost,' he added.