Gibb slams Labour's handling of school refurbishment programme

A new report by the Public Accounts Committee has condemned Labour’s handling of a multi-billion pound school refurbishment programme.

The Committee said the Building Schools for the Future scheme was “over-optimistic” and created expectations “that could not be met”.

200 schools were originally planned to be completed by December 2008 under the scheme; but only 42 actually were. And the programme, which was meant to be delivered over 10-15 years, is now expected to take 18 years.

Nick Gibb, the Shadow Schools Minister, condemned the Government’s “appalling handling" of its flagship school refurbishment programme, and stressed it had led to “massive delays and overspending”:

“Billions of pounds are being spent but parents and children aren’t seeing the results. We need a Government that gets proper value for taxpayers’ money, not one that squanders public money through its incompetence.”