Government commits to keeping 400 school projects in 10-year program despite delivery challenges

In a recent hearing with MPs, DfE’s Susan Acland-Hood assures that named schools won’t be removed, while the remaining 100 spots in the program may be reserved for RAAC rebuilds, as they tackle the school condition crisis

The current building programme aims to rebuild 50 schools a year, although it has so far failed to meet delivery targets.

Three months ago, the National Audit Office discovered that just 24 contracts had been awarded three years into the programme, far below a target of 83 projects.

The delay was blamed on providers not taking up contracts given instability in the construction sector and inflationary risks.

Despite poor delivery so far, Jane Cunliffe, chief operating officer of the DfE’s operations and infrastructure group, said the department was confident it had the capacity to build more than 50 projects through its supply chain if needed, holding out the prospect that government could seek to step up delivery rates in the face of the school condition crisis.

She confirmed that the bulk of extra spending requirements would fall into the next spending review covering the later part of the programme.

Tranche 1, 2 and 3 projects now have fixed time tables but many of 239 projects in tranche 4 announced in December 2022 still have to finalise building start dates allowing scope for the DfE to advance RAAC rebuild projects without impacting existing timetable projects.

List of tranches 1-4 in the new schools programme, click here.