The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

4.(ii) EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING

Introduction

The Education and Lifelong learning portfolio oversees the investment in both schools and universities and colleges. Investment in the Schools Estate is devolved to Local Government under the Local Government Concordat and investment in the higher and further education sectors is channelled through the Scottish Funding Council ( SFC).

The investment comprises both direct public funding of projects as well as significant levels of private sector investment through public private partnerships within the schools sector and through joint ventures, strategic partnering and direct investment within the university and college sector.

Table 4(ii).1 summarises the forecast investment in the Education and Lifelong Learning portfolio over the medium term. To avoid double counting, schools investment by local authorities is included within Chapter 4(vii).

Table 4(ii).1: Forecast Infrastructure Investment - Education & Lifelong Learning

THE SCHOOL ESTATE

In relation to schools, the Concordat between the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities ( COSLA) includes the following specific commitment:

"Improving the learning experience of children and young people by improving the fabric of schools and nurseries; developing and delivering A Curriculum for Excellence ; and, as quickly as is possible, reducing class sizes in P1 to P3 to a maximum of 18 and improving early years provision with access to a teacher for every pre-school child. The provision of additional capital allocation and specific arrangements for local authorities to maintain teacher numbers in the face of falling school rolls will allow significant progress on this policy over the Spending Review period."

Previously, funding to local authorities was provided through the local government finance settlement and in a series of ring-fenced specific grants. As part of the new relationship with local government, a considerable number of specific grants have been rolled up and transferred into the local government settlement. Included in the rolling up are the PPP Revenue Support Grant and the Schools Fund Capital Grant.

The Scottish Government has a manifesto commitment to match the previous administration's proposed school building programme 'brick for brick' and that is being delivered. After the election of May 2007, it made an early announcement that it would honour the pre-election investment plans for the 30 PPP projects. These projects, which are at various stages will, when completed, have supported around £2.3 billion of infrastructure investment and enabled authorities, according to their priorities, to replace the worst condition or least suitable schools and address aspects of changing demographics.

The ongoing commitment will extend well beyond this in the form of the Revenue Support Grant (which is now rolled up within the overall local government settlement). Since May 2007 a further 7 (out of the 30) projects have reached financial close and received firm, final offers of Government funding. These projects alone will see another 45 largely new build schools delivered over the next few years. At the time of writing, 4 more projects (Inverclyde, Western Isles, Orkney and Moray) which are yet to complete the procurement stage, would take that total to over 50 and, together, directly benefit 35,000 (fully 5%) of Scotland's pupils.

These projects which are in train, as well as those already announced and funded by authorities by other means, will continue to see the completion and delivery of high quality schools right across Scotland until around 2011. Further details of the schools PPP projects which the Scottish Government is supporting can be found on the website of the Financial Partnerships Unit - www.scotland.gov.uk.

Under the Concordat the capital element of the local government settlement will increase by 13% from 2008-09 and this level will be held up to 2010-11. In total £2.9 billion is being provided over this period to secure investment in local government infrastructure such as schools, including an additional £115 million in the first year of the settlement. By utilising the increased resources made available in the local government settlement, authorities have new flexibility and opportunity to plan to continue with significant investment in the school estate. Some are already seizing those new opportunities and signalling new school investment plans at a local level. For example, Glasgow is in the process of finalising plans for the next phase of its £1 billion schools modernisation programme, and both North and South Lanarkshire have publicised forward investment programmes of the order of £200 million in their schools. Other authorities' commitments to additional school investment are appearing on an encouragingly frequent basis - table 4(vii)2 illustrates local authority capital plans and the intention of 23 authorities to invest in excess of £1 billion over the next 5 years in schools projects each of more than £5 million in value. Overall, based on authority projections, we can expect to see around 200 schools either completed or under construction during the Spending Review 2007 period. We anticipate that during the 4 year Parliamentary period we will have delivered or secured through a range of funding mechanisms around 250 schools. Many other schools will undergo smaller-scale, yet still important, improvement works.

The Scottish Government recognises that in the longer term further major investment into the school estate will yet be required. However, the current planned activity will utilise considerable construction, finance, and project management capacity in Scotland over the next few years. Strategic thinking and plans for future schools should and will be informed by the recent publication of Audit Scotland's Report Improving the Scottish School Estate ( www.audit-scotland.gov.uk)- the lessons to be learned from experience and progress to date as well as recommendations for the future - and by a continuing focus on improving asset management planning generally. Audit Scotland suggests that at least another £5 billion of capital investment will be needed before the school estate reaches a state of equilibrium - where the rate of improvement at least equals the rate of deterioration, and that the programme of school improvement may take another 20 years.

In the context of the Concordat and new relationship between Government and local authorities, there is scope for authorities collectively to reflect on the new funding arrangements and opportunities; and play a more prominent role in developing a new, integrated schools investment strategy for Scotland. This could well include consideration of the education component of multi-user occupancy of community infrastructure generally, take account of the wider approaches of other public sector interests in a 'joined-up' manner, be inclusive also of the contribution of the private and voluntary sectors and relate educational requirements to broader aspects of community economic and social growth.

At individual authority level, building on the well-established foundations of School Estate Management Planning, future investment plans will require authorities first to clarify the scope and nature of both envisaged school provision and wider community requirements and the 'fit' between the two. There are many drivers for change to be taken into account, such as consideration of both strategic rationalisation of the school estate where appropriate and increased demand for school places in areas of growth, the poor current condition and suitability of some schools, design and operational issues relating to delivering A Curriculum for Excellence as well as wider sustainability and energy policies, to illustrate but a few.

The Scottish Government's overall objective for the school estate is to increase relentlessly the proportion of Scotland's pupils who benefit from being educated in high quality, well equipped, sustainable schools. This will require continued priority investment in those schools which are in the worst 'condition' or patently unsuitable for purposes of delivering a modern curriculum and education. The attention should always be on the number of pupils benefiting and quality of improvements made rather than simply on numbers of schools.

For the school estate, this is what government at all levels should be focusing on over the next decade. It is the Scottish Government's firm intention to support and work with COSLA and the authorities towards this end, by way of continued investment in schools in order to complete the task of overtaking the legacy of underinvestment in the 1980s and 1990s. We shall also do all that we can to promote and encourage all aspects of good design because this delivers better value for money invested and better, more user-friendly buildings. So, our work for example with The Lighthouse on participative consultation and with the Carbon Trust on aspects of sustainability, will continue. Government itself will put even more effort into evaluation and the sharing of experience and good practice. We have also recently announced funding for Architecture + Design Scotland to support and work with local authorities on improving the quality of school designs.

We have already signalled our preference for NPD projects and a greater proportion of the 7 projects signed off since May 2007 and the 4 which remain, are of this variety than was the case with those that reached financial close prior to the election. The Scottish Futures Trust will also be available to assist in this overall endeavour and to provide expert guidance on delivery and funding issues - in particular it will consider the scope for aggregation and cost efficiencies across the 32 authorities, and propose innovative delivery and funding solutions.

We are determined that this corporate and strategic approach must be taken forward with urgency in order to provide a new platform for levels of school investment and the delivery of estate improvements into the next decade. The Government is committed to continuing the programme of improvements to the school estate. Recognising the resource requirements of this and the lead times involved, we will take decisions on future resources over the period of the current local government settlement - and not later than the Spending Review 2010.

SCOTTISH FUNDING COUNCIL - UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES

This section relates to the actual and projected investment plans for the universities and colleges funded by the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council ( SFC).

Policy Context

Universities and colleges are wholly autonomous bodies, each of which is fully responsible for the management of its estates and delivery of its own infrastructure projects.

The two sectors have different estate configurations and SFC has adopted different approaches for funding them. A typical college estate tends to be one or two buildings, many in poor condition after decades of underinvestment. SFC's approach has been to fund single college projects which resolve all the poor estate problems for the colleges with the highest priority need. SFC is usually the major funder of these projects.

Universities' estates are larger and more diverse and they tend to have more diverse funding sources. In many cases SFC is a minority funder. SFC's funding, therefore, is focused on helping universities deliver their estate strategies, which typically cover a 10 to 15 year period and require a phased implementation. SFC's capital funding is distributed mainly in relation to each university's amount of teaching and research activity, as contributions towards universities' priority projects. In certain cases SFC provides specific capital grant towards projects which are of particular strategic importance.

Universities also receive specific funding for research infrastructure which is provided to them from the UK Department of Innovation Universities and Skills ( DIUS). Until recently this was phased Science Research Investment Funding ( SRIF) and is now a permanent stream referred to as Research Capital Investment Funding ( RCIF).

The forecast investment in both colleges and universities is noted in Table 4(ii).2 below:

Table 4(ii).2: Forecast Infrastructure Investment - Universities and Colleges

Private investment in the university sector is funding levered in from other, non- SFC, sources, including major research funders, enterprise and commercial borrowing. In the college sector it is a combination of commercial debt for projects and own resources. Annual private investment in the college sector from 2011-12 includes the average projected annual investment from commercial debt in the following 5 years.

Public and Private Funding of the University and College Estates

Investment in infrastructure in the colleges and universities sector is supported by a combination of funding sources: SFC, DIUS and private funds. Table 4(ii).3 details the funds which have been allocated to SFC for the higher and further education sector in the Spending Review 2007 together with UK funding through DIUS and an estimate of private sector investment. It also shows a forecast of the annual funding required for future investment in this sector.

Table 4(ii).3: Higher & Further Education Sector: Forecast Infrastructure Investment - Public and Private Funding

Part of this investment will be through projects individually supported by SFC. Details of projects in the pipeline are given overleaf. The remainder of this investment will be implementation of institutions' estate strategies funded from a combination of sources, including SFC formula capital. This is particularly the case in the university sector and some case study illustrations are given below.

Details of the projects where SFC is a major contributor of project specific funding, with a total capital value in excess of £5 million, within this sector are summarised in Table 4(ii).4:

Table 4(ii).4: SFC Funded Capital Projects (over £5m)

Capital Investment Case Study: Universities

The University of Edinburgh estate strategy can be accessed via its website at http://www.estates.ed.ac.uk/. The strategy is predicated on the development of distinct zones which correspond with the major faculty groupings. Examples of these are:

• a major redevelopment of George Square (the Central Area Zone), including the Appleton Tower, the main Library and the new School of Informatics on the Crichton Street car park;
• a major refurbishment of the King's buildings campus (Science and Engineering Zone); and
• the development of the Medical and Veterinary Zone at Little France and Easter Bush, including the New Veterinary School and the Edinburgh Biomedical Research Centre.

These projects are funded from a combination of sources, including SFC, NHS Lothian, the Research Councils, private investment and Scottish Enterprise.

The University of Aberdeen Estate Strategy can be accessed via its website at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/estates/strategy.shtml. Examples of projects currently being progressed are:

• the Matthew Hay College of Life Sciences and Medicine, which is a joint venture between the University and NHS Grampian, partly funded by SFC; and
• the reconfiguration and upgrading of the College of Physical Sciences, funded by the University, the UK Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills and SFC.

Capital Investment Case Study: Colleges

The four Glasgow city centre colleges (Stow College, Glasgow College of Nautical Studies, Glasgow Metropolitan College and Central College) are developing an integrated estate on two sites in the city: Cathedral Street and Thistle Street. The project envisages a major new build of approximately 75,000 m ² across the two sites at an estimated cost of £300 million.

It is expected that the project will be delivered through a single client company owned by the four colleges, in partnership with a developer. The project is scheduled to begin construction in 2010-11 with completion in 2015.

SFC projects post 2011

Table 4(ii).2 details the expected annual investment in this sector beyond the Spending Review 2007. Examples of possible future projects are provided below:

Further Education

As noted above, the major project which will be in procurement/construction will be the Glasgow city centre colleges. Other projects SFC anticipate providing a funding contribution towards, conditional upon the outcome of the review of the business cases and of future Spending Reviews, are:

• Inverness College. This is likely to be a new build collaborative project with the UHI Millennium Institute. Likely total capital cost £50-70 million.
• Aberdeen College. This is a phased redevelopment of their estate reducing their presence in the city centre with major developments in the communities. Likely total capital cost £80-120 million.
• Moray College. Major redevelopment of their existing estate. Likely capital cost £40-60 million.
• Banff and Buchan College. Major redevelopment of their existing estate. Likely capital cost £30-40 million.
• Kilmarnock College. New build as part of the town redevelopment. Likely capital cost
  £30-40 million.

For all these projects SFC would anticipate providing the colleges with an annual funding contribution, spread over several years, from 2011 at the earliest.

Higher Education

The case studies detailed earlier in this chapter ( Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen) will take beyond 2011 to implement.

In addition, the redevelopment of the Glasgow School of Art campus will be a £50-60 million project currently anticipated to begin in 2010-11 and complete in 2013-14.

The UHI Millennium Institute is likely to be a collaborative project with Inverness College as noted above.

Summary

In the colleges sector significant inroads are being made to the considerable investment backlog SFC inherited. There are still some significant projects coming through the pipeline, the most notable by far being the Glasgow city centre colleges' project.

There remains a considerable investment backlog in the universities sector and SFC's funding policy continues to focus on providing institutions with funding to which they will add funding from other sources in order to implement their estate strategies. The introduction of the Scottish Futures Trust will provide guidance on advisory and funding sources available for this sector.

« Previous | Contents | Next »