Funding for work on School Estate
Local authorities are responsible for deciding on priorities for capital expenditure on the school estate. Under the Prudential Framework arrangements local authorities are free to make their own decisions about how much to borrow or spend on maintenance and the renewal of school buildings, although they are under a duty to determine how much they can afford, and then budget accordingly.
In terms of funding, the Concordat which the Scottish Government signed with COSLA on 14 November 2007 sets out the principles of, and the arrangements for, Scottish Government support for local authority expenditure. In terms of capital resources, almost £3 billion will be available to authorities across Scotland over the 3 financial years 2008-9 to 2010-11 to secure investment in school buildings and other local authority infrastructure for use by authorities according to their own priorities.
In addition, financial support has been pledged for school building projects with a capital value of over £2.3 billion under Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements in 30 authorities. Some of these projects have been completed; others are under construction, and others are at the procurement stage.
For detailed information about PPP in Scotland, including schools projects, see the Financial Partnerships Unit section of this site. Financial Partnerships Unit