§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on encouraging local education authorities to use PH contracts to upgrade school buildings; and if she will make a statement. [29200]
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§ John Healey[holding answer 23 January 2002]: The use of PFI contracts to upgrade school buildings is one of a number of funding options available to local education authorities. If an authority wishes to develop a PFI project, it must first make preliminary proposals to the Department, which are assessed against published criteria. Although the Department currently allocates each year around £850 million PM credits, we are not able to support all of the proposals put forward. The proposals which best match the published criteria receive provisional support at this stage.
Projects are not formally approved until a full Outline Business Case (OBC) has been submitted to the Treasury-chaired Project Review Group. This OBC must include a public sector comparator (PSC). It is a condition of approval that the proposed PFI solution must
Specialist schools—selection by aptitude School LEA Specialism School's status Percentage of pupils selected on aptitude Archbishop Blanch School Liverpool Technology Voluntary Aided 5.6 Archbishop Temple School Lancashire Technology Voluntary Aided 10.0 Bohunt School Hampshire Language Foundation 10.0 Brentwood Ursuline Convent School Essex Arts Voluntary Aided 10.0 Chaucer Technical School Kent Technology Foundation 1100.0 Chestnut Grove School Wandsworth Arts Community 16.0 Cornwallis School Kent Technology Foundation 10.0 Deacon's School Peterborough, City Technology Foundation 15.0 George Spencer GM School Nottinghamshire Technology Foundation 10.0 Heathside School Surrey Technology Foundation 4.0 Hockerill Anglo European School Hertfordshire Language Foundation 10.0 Intake High School Leeds Arts Community 10.0 Lodge Park School Northamptonshire Technology Foundation 10.0 Lynn Grove VA High School Norfolk Technology Voluntary Aided 15.0 Mill Hill County High School Barnet, LB of Technology Foundation 10.0 Ninestiles School Birmingham Technology Foundation 10.0 Oakbank School Bradford Sports Foundation 10.0 Oldfield School Bath and NE Somerset Sports Foundation 10.0 Philip Morant School Essex Technology Foundation 15.0 Sandwich Technology School Kent Technology Foundation 10.0 Small Heath School Birmingham Technology Foundation 10.0 St. Margaret's C of E High School Liverpool Technology Voluntary Aided 15.0 St. Martin's School Essex Technology Foundation 10.0 St. Marylebone School (The) Westminster Arts Voluntary Aided 10.0 Wye Valley School (The) Buckinghamshire Sports Community 10.0 1 Up to Notes:
1. This information was taken from progress reports submitted by 403 schools in December 2000. Progress reports for schools operational as of September 2000 have been received but the information from these has not yet been collated.
2. The 1998 School Standards and Framework Act provides for schools with a specialism to select up to 10 per cent. of their intake on the basis of aptitude for a specialist subject prescribed in regulations. Prior to the 1998 Act schools had greater discretion over aptitude selection and this accounts for the percentages above 10 per cent.