Councils slam DfE over school building delays

The LGA has levied the criticism at the Department for Education, which has announced further details of the distribution of around £4bn of school capital funding.

The latest announcement includes £1.6bn to councils over the next two years for school building work as well as the launch of a “targeted basic need programme” of funding, for which councils have to bid. This is aimed at areas where demand for school places is expected to increase.

But the LGA said the majority of the 261 schools that last year made successful bids for funding already allocated, have still not received money.

David Simmonds, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board said: “While government struggles to get its act together, councils have been stepping in to keep schools running. 

“Delays to already-promised school funding means local government is working to address the basic repairs needed to keep schools open, such as fixing leaky roofs. But we could deliver so much more with funds that are currently tied up in government red tape.”

Education Secretary Michael Gove said any new schools created through the latest funding announcement will have to take either academy or free school status. Local authority-run schools will only be able to secure funding for expansion if Ofsted has rated them good or outstanding.

Councils will also be required to run the tender process for academy and free school providers.

National Union of Teachers deputy general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “The NUT has long said that free schools are being opened in places where there is no need for extra provision and in some cases where there are surplus places.

“In particular, the programme has seen a disproportionate number of secondary schools approved when the real need nationwide is in the primary phase.”

Gove said the government has only just gathered information about specific areas where a surge in demand for new places is expected.

“This meant that we could not target funding in the most effective way possible to meet pockets of demand within local authorities,” he said.

The NUT also reiterated its criticism of the coalition’s decision to cancel the previous Labour government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) capital funding programme.

One of those areas to miss out was Sandwell Council, which lost £130m of funding for new secondary schools through the cancellation of BSF.

Bob Badham, Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for children and families, said: “The government's recently announced two-year basic need allocation for Sandwell is insufficient to meet all of the planned expansions in the primary sector for 2013 and 2014.

"In order for the council to meet projected demand for reception places, it will be necessary to make a separate bid under the government's targeted basic need programme. As funding is targeted for basic need it does not resolve the issues in our secondary sector where we lost £130m from our BSF programme."