Mary Macleod "disappointed we are not able to go ahead"

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Three schools in constituency have lost their funding

Three schools in the Brentford and Isleworth constituency – Chiswick Community School, Hounslow Manor School and Oaklands School – have lost their development funding with the Government’s review of the BSF Programme.

Mary said, “I am disappointed that we are not in a position to be able to go ahead at this point with the planned refurbishments and improvements to Chiswick Community School, Hounslow Manor School and Oaklands School as currently scoped in the BSF Programme. Labour left us with the largest deficit in our peacetime history which has meant that my colleague the Rt. Hon. Michael Gove MP, the Secretary of State for Education, has had to make some difficult and immediate decisions about how to get best value for money. The Secretary of State’s capital review team will now be indentifying ways to drive down costs, get buildings more quickly with a higher proportion of money going direct to the frontline.”

The previous Government had already pledged a 50% cut in all capital spending and would not make any firm promises to protect schools’ capital spending. The BSF Programme had also been characterised by overspends, delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy. It was therefore concluded that any school that had not reached the point of a ‘financial close’ with a Local Education Partnership should stop its BSF programme at this point. Unfortunately this was the case with the three local schools.

Mary commented, “I understand how important education is and I assure you that I will work with all three schools in the constituency to understand their needs and priorities and ensure these are represented to the Secretary of State for Education as they conduct their review of future capital investment in schools.”

 

July 9, 2010