Gove: I cannot allow more money to be spent
Education secretary Michael Gove explains his decision to wind up the Building Schools for the Future programme to MPs:
“The BSF process has been beset by red tape and delays.
“We have to bear down on waste and bureaucracy – we have to rein back the projects which have not been properly funded.
“The bureaucracy is absurd and has to go.
“In some cases it has taken local authorities more than three years to negotiate BSF’s bureaucratic process.
“BSF failed to meet any of its targets, and a project under BSF often cost three times what the equivalent project costs in the private sector.
“The BSF scheme has been responsible for about one-third of all this department’s capital spending. Throughout its life it has been subject to massive overspends, tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy.
“I cannot allow more money to be spent until we have assured a more efficient use of resources. Where financial closure he been reached… the projects will go ahead.
“Where financial closure has not been reached, future projects under BSF will not go ahead.
“Where there is a pressing need I will look sympathetically for building to go ahead.
“In bearing down on costs now we can assure in the future to safeguard school places, essential work in deprived areas, and the interests of disadvantaged pupils.”
