In 2015 the government set aside £23bn to pay for school building and refurbishment programmes up to 2021, which were designed to fix the £6.7bn problem of school disrepair and tackle the challenge of creating hundreds of thousands of new pupil places to meet forecast demand.

But despite then-chancellor George Osborne’s pledge, government spending on school building fell by £1bn last year to just £4bn, well below the £4.6bn a year implied by the £23bn allocation. Contractors and consultants working in the schools sector report that progress has been slow on both the free schools building programme and the second phase of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP2), which is designed to repair and replace those in the worst state. Some are starting to worry that last year’s fall in expenditure is not just a temporary blip.

Some fear that the apparent lack of noise from government on school capital spend – a subject on which the education secretary, Damian Hinds, has been silent – could even be a precursor to cuts. Meanwhile, difficulties finding sites and dealing with issues such as asbestos dog attempts to drive through those schemes that are in the pipeline.

“Both public and private sector players have expressed concerns about the pace of delivery of new schools”

Tim Byles, Cornerstone

…