Transparency data
DfE Government Major Project Portfolio data, September 2014
Updated 25 June 2015
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| Project name | Building Schools for the Future (BSF) | Priority School Building Programme - Private Finance | Priority School Building Programme - Capital |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department | DfE | DfE | DfE |
| MPA RAG rating (A Delivery Confidence Assessment of the project at a fixed point in time, using a five-point scale, Red – Amber/Red – Amber – Amber/Green – Green; definitions in the MPA Annual Report) | Green | Amber/Red | Amber/Red |
| Description / Aims (From GMPP data) | • Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was conceived as a long-term programme of investment and change in England to help transform education for 3.3 million students aged 11-19. Although originally planned as a 15–20 year programme, it was announced by the Secretary of State for Education on 5 July 2010 that only projects that had achieved OBC approval by 1 January 2010 would continue. • The BSF programme was designed to enhance the learning opportunities of young people by providing new or substantially refurbished facilities capable of delivering a 21st century curriculum. • The programme also sought to: • provide teachers with 21st century work places; • provide a step-change in the level of information and communications technology (ICT) provision; • deliver the investment as efficiently as possible, through a standard procurement and delivery approach – the local education partnership (LEP). Since the decision was taken to allow only those projects beyond OBC by 1 January 2010 to continue, an exercise was undertaken in late 2010 to identify savings from the remaining programme. C.£250m was duly identified as efficiencies. | On 24 May 2012, the Secretary of State confirmed that the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) would rebuild, or meet the condition needs of 260 schools. The programme will address the needs of 214 schools through capital grant and 46 schools through private finance. To ensure value for money for the public sector, the schools have been grouped together in “batches” to make projects that will be commercially attractive and drive strong competition. Under the private finance element of the programme there are 5 batches of schools being delivered via PF2, the government's new approach to private finance. The following objectives have been agreed for the private finance element of the PSBP: 1. to rebuild or meet the condition needs of 214 schools, prioritising those in worst condition using private finance funding; 2. to build more for less; 3. to use a centralised procurement model in order to drive efficiencies in procurement, time and ensure that a quality solution is obtained at the lowest cost; and 4. to gather data that will enable the efficient delivery of future school buildings e.g. data on cost, timelines, energy usage etc. | On 24 May 2012, the Secretary of State confirmed that the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) would rebuild, or meet the condition needs of 260 schools. The programme will address the needs of 214 schools through capital grant and 46 schools through private finance. To ensure value for money for the public sector, the schools have been grouped together in “batches” to make projects that will be commercially attractive and drive strong competition. Under the capital funded element of the programme the batches are being procured using the EFA Contractors Framework and the EFA Regional Framework. The following objectives have been agreed for the capital funded element of the PSBP: 1. to rebuild or meet the condition needs of 214 schools, prioritising those in worst condition using capital funding; 2. to build more for less; 3. to use a centralised procurement model in order to drive efficiencies in procurement, time and ensure that a quality solution is obtained at the lowest cost; and 4. to gather data that will enable the efficient delivery of future school buildings e.g. data on cost, timelines, energy usage etc. |
| Departmental commentary on actions planned or taken on the MPA RAG rating. | No actions planned. | Since our last report the overall delivery confidence has improved as the Aggregator Funding Procurement Agreement has now been signed and are proceeding to programme. | The recovery of the construction market has impacted the programme. We are continually reviewing our market strategy. We have identified a broader range of procurement options for the programme, one of these options being the use of the new EFA Regional Contractors Framework which was launched in July 2014. |
| Project - Start Date (Latest approved start date) | 01/04/2004 | 19/07/2011 | 19/07/2011 |
| Project - End Date (Latest approved end date) | 02/07/2017 | 31/07/2017 | 01/01/2019 |
| Departmental narrative on schedule, including any deviation from planned schedule (if necessary) | None. | The first three batches, Hertfordshire Luton and Reading, the North East and North West reached Financial Close in March 2015. The two remaining batches, Yorkshire and the Midlands are expected to reach Financial Close by August 2015. We currently have 23 schools under construction. This number is set to increase to 36 by December 2015. Our first school is scheduled to open in the North East at the end of December 2015. We are still on programme to meet our December 2017 deadline. | As of 5 June 2015, we have: 26 schools open in new buildings; 107 schools for which construction contracts have been signed and we are working with all the schools in the programme. This month the programme hit the public commitment to open 24 schools before the General Election. |
| 2014/2015 Budget (£million) | £95.00m | Data not provided by department | £607.30m |
| 2014/2015 Forecast (£million) | £95.00m | Data not provided by department | £358.40m |
| 2014/2015 Variance (£million) | £0.00m | Data not provided by department | -£248.90m |
| 2014/2015 Variance %age | 0% | Data not provided by department | -41% |
| Total budgeted whole life costs (£million) (including non-government costs) | £6,283.00m | Data not provided by department | £2,023.34m |
| Departmental narrative on budget/forecast variance for 2014/15 (if variance is more than 5%) | Budget variance less than 5% | Financial data was not submitted previously due to the fact that our unitary charge is revenue budget and will be partially incurred from September 2016 onwards when the first schools enter the operational phase. | In response to the recovery of the construction market we have slowed down the release of schools to the market to ensure that we can drive best value for money. We are continually reviewing our market strategy and are still on track to hand over the majority of the new or refurbished buildings by the end of 2017, two years earlier than originally planned. |
| Departmental narrative on budgeted whole life costs | Monitored locally. | The whole programme is funded out of the unitary charges that DfE will pay, therefore all of the money being spent is funded by government. The batch Special Purpose Vehicle (SPVs) may borrow money from the private sector (the Aggregator), but this will be repaid out of the unitary charges paid by DfE. Note data not provided: Finances are not reported in this section as it is a Private Finance project and as such funding for this is borrowed from the market. The EFA have an approved business case for the revenue funding of the unitary charge for the term of the programme. Revenue expenditure will not commence until practical completion (service availability date) is achieved. | This element of the PSBP is funded using capital grant. |