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School building improvements
30/12/2008
An average of six school building projects per month were completed in 2008, the Cabinet Secretary for Education Fiona Hyslop revealed today.
Most of the 71 school projects completed this year were new builds with the remainder being significant refurbishments. Figures show that more than 30,000 children benefited from these new facilities in 2008 and that the Government is on track to deliver the 250 schools promised in the lifetime of this parliament.
Of the 71 school projects in 2008, 42 were financed through PPP with 29 procured through other means. These projects have been supported in large measure by the record funding, both capital and revenue, in the £34.7 billion local government settlement.
The Education Secretary also anticipates Scottish companies in the construction sector benefitting from the offer made to authorities in the wake of the pre-budget report to accelerate £100 million of capital expenditure from 2010-11 to bolster economic recovery and support families and businesses. She welcomes the ongoing discussions with COSLA on the detail and looks forward to being able to say more early in the new year.
Ms Hyslop said:
"I have enjoyed visiting and opening so many new schools in 2008. It is great to see the new facilities bringing real benefits to pupils, teachers and communities and helping our children to learn. With 71 new projects completed in 2008 there is real momentum in transforming our school estate right across Scotland.
"More than 30,000 pupils have swapped sub-standard classrooms in 2008 for modern, new ones and over the lifetime of this parliament we will see that total rise to at least 100,000. We are on track to deliver 250 schools by 2011.
"This investment also helps builders, joiners, plumbers, glaziers and many others in Scotland who rely on construction work for a living. In this difficult economic climate our school building programme is even more important to these firms. That is why the Scottish Government has offered to allow local authorities to bring forward capital spending from 2010-11 to support investment in infrastructure, including schools.
"Discussions regarding future school estate policy, funding and delivery are progressing well toward publishing a new School Estate Strategy for the longer-term by spring 2009.
"The joint Government-COSLA School Estate Strategy Working Group, which also includes representatives from SOLACE ( the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives) and ADES (the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland), is developing the new Strategy for a school estate which is tailored to meet the needs of pupils, teachers and communities, and which fully supports the Curriculum for Excellence.
"This Government is enabling local authorities to proceed with over £2 billion worth of construction in Scottish schools. That includes at least £1 billion of work underway on major construction projects where building commenced since Spring 2007 and Local Government themselves have identified well over another £1 billion of investment in schools over the next 3 to 5 years, all of which is financially supported by decisions of this Government."