§ 19. Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the use of the private finance initiative in schools. [154528]
§ Mr. MilibandThe use of the private finance initiative in schools has been a popular and successful programme. Popular because more than 100 of the 150 local education authorities in England have applied to take part. Successful because we have progressed from one contract covering one school in 1997 to 66 contracts covering over 600 schools today. Services have started under 40 of these contracts and they represent a private sector capital investment of £1.8 billion.