Private company to take control of school building

The changes, announced by schools minister Vernon Coaker, will take effect from 1 October 2009.

PfS is already charged with delivering Building Schools for the Future (BSF), the government's multi-billion pound secondary school rebuilding programme.

From October the company will also deal with the Primary Capital Programme, the primary school version of BSF, as well as all other school capital projects, which are collectively worth more than £15.5bn between now and 2011.

The move follows the government's announcement earlier this year that PfS would deliver a £200m co-location fund, designed to help schools build integrated services onsite.

Coaker said the transfer would make capital projects more joined up.

He said: "BSF is now well established, with 86 schools benefiting from investment to date and momentum building fast so that newly revamped schools are opening, week after week, month after month - thanks to Partnerships for Schools' management.

"Now is the time for its role to expand. It is common sense for all our capital programmes to now come under a single umbrella."

Last week a damning report into BSF branded the DCSF complacent and over-optimistic.

The Committee of Public Accounts review of the programme said the DCSF and PfS wasted large sums of public money on consultants.

PfS also came under harsh criticism earlier this year, when it was revealed that its staff received large cash bonuses, despite major delays to BSF.