§ Dr. PughTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1)how many local education authorities will be paying from their education budgets for the costs of PFI schemes in 2003–04; [113160]
(2) what the total value is of payments for PFI schemes to be made by local education authorities from their education budget in the financial year 2003–04. [113161]
§ Mr. MilibandAll local education authorities (LEAs) with operational Schools PFI schemes contribute towards the costs of these schemes. Funding from this Department is intended to meet the capital repayment element of the unitary charge. LEAs must meet the facilities management element. They do this by recouping some of the funds which would otherwise have been devolved for this purpose to schools involved in the project, and by using their own resources.
The contract for a Schools PFI scheme is usually between the LEA and the contractor. The DfES is not a party to the contract, so we are not aware of the unitary charge that the LEA would have agreed to pay each year. The size of the charge will of course be dependent on the overall value of the contract, however, a number of checks are put in place during the procurement process to try to ensure that LEAs agree deals that are affordable and offer good value for money.