§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the findings of the Audit Commission report, "PFI in Schools". [92769]
§ Mr. MilibandThe Audit Commission's report found that whilst teaching staff and pupils were generally pleased with their new schools, there had been some difficulties in the procurement process and some design aspects were less than ideal. However, the report focused only on a small number of very early PFI pathfinder schools. Since those early days, as the report itself made clear, we have continuously refined and improved the schools PFI process in the light of experience. Over 500 schools are now covered by PFI deals, representing over £1.3 billion of private sector investment. Another 400 PFI schools are in procurement or provisionally approved. This is a major programme by any standards and many schools are now receiving substantial investments to help provide high quality accommodation, raise educational standards and transform working conditions for pupils and staff.
§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the merits of funding the building of schools through the Private Finance Initiative. [92771]
§ Mr. MilibandThe Private Finance Initiative (PFI) has significant merits. For example, it allows for risk sharing with the private sector. The public sector does not pay anything until construction work on the school building is complete and the school is receiving the contracted service. New schools are generally completed on time and are then maintained to a high standard over the whole life of the contract. This prevents the deterioration of the schools estate which has been so common in the past. Also, teaching professionals can focus on teaching without the distractions of facilities management and poor accommodation.
Using the PFI to fund the building of schools has so far meant that an extra £1.3 billion has been invested to provide better conditions for pupils and teachers in over 500 schools. Transforming school accommodation is helping us to raise educational standards.
As far as individual PFI projects are concerned, each one is assessed at the outset to ensure it will provide best value over the whole life of the contract. Further checks are made at various points during the procurement process to ensure that value for money for the public sector is delivered. Once the project is operational and transactions appear in the local authority's accounts, 866W the authority's auditors will give an opinion on whether these have been compiled in accordance with the relevant accounting standards.