The Guardian reports this morning that:
Schools in England are being promised a £1bn rebuilding programme as Boris Johnson commits to giving children a “world-class education” after months out of the classroom, and pledges help for the economy to bounce back from the coronavirus crisis.
The 10-year investment plan for upgrades and refurbishments comes ahead of the prime minister's key speech on Tuesday in the Midlands, where he will set out how he thinks major infrastructure projects — including hospital and house building — will form part of his plan for the country's economic revival.
There are currently 32,770 schools in the UK. I suspect some share sites. Call it 30,o00 then.
As the Guardian also noted:
The NAO estimated that England's schools needed £6.7bn to meet the backlog of repairs and rebuilding needed to bring them up to satisfactory or better condition, and a further £7.1bn to bring all school buildings from satisfactory to good condition.
So a spend of at least £13.8 billion is required. And that's before upgrading the buildings to be thermally efficient.
And they are going to get £1 billion.
That is a bit over £3,000 a year of rebuilding a year. Or the cost of painting a few classrooms each summer, if you are lucky.
This is not a rebuilding programme. And this is not investment. This looks like a programme of cuts to me. As the Guardian notes:
The 10-year project promised by Johnson looks likely to replace the government's existing Priority School Building Programme, which runs out next year. That programme spent around £4.4bn on 537 repair and rebuild projects, some of which were privately financed, since 2011.
I should add that I have some experience in this area. I was a school governor, usually as chair of a finance committee or as chair of governors, or both, for thirteen years. I know what anxiety repairs backlogs in old school buildings cause. Johnson is doing nothing meaningful to help.
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[…] have already noted this morning the cuts that Johnson is planning to announce to the school renovation programme. The […]
I would describe this as ‘world crass’ rather than ‘world class’.
So they lie again – still saying that the £1 billion is a form of investment but a lot less than what has occurred previously.
We can only hope that the actual reductions get pointed out to people time and time again.
I am also a school governor, and used to the continual discussions in our Finance Committee about how to fund essential minor repairs without destabilising the knife-edge budget. Even those sticking plaster solutions to urgent problems (leaks, floors needing relaying) typically need more than £3000. That sum of money certainly cannot be described as a “rebuilding programme”.
And it is for 10 years. New jobs need to be created in the next six months, not in the distant future.
At least the home insulation proposal might achieve something on the necessary timescale. And allowing the public sector to recruit the extra manpower it needs: NHS cuts have fallen heavily on the necessary administrative support (badged as “removing managerial inefficiency”) meaning clinical staff need to waste time chasing lost test results, missing appointment letters, etc. In order to catch up with the patient backlog, they won’t be able to recruit new doctors and nurses but they could ensure those they have concentrate on the roles they are trained for. Similarly with schools, councils, etc.
A frequent experience for Scots is the feeling of déjà vu we get when we hear of the UK Gov’s latest ground-breaking initiative; like Boris’s new initiative to improve School Estates in England. We’re nearing the end of a similar scheme in Scotland initiated in 2009 which is due to run until 2021. In September 2019, the Scottish Gov announced a second phase initiative which will overlap and follow on from the first.
Details here:
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/06/29/westminster-acts-at-last-to-catch-up-on-scotlands-school-building-and-maintenance-achievements/
Agreed…..the Tories always steal ideas
That’s raised an interesting hypothesis: when they steal ideas they’re often positive ideas which can benefit the wider population. But when they implement their own ideologically-driven ideas, they’re often harmful to the wider population e.g. shrinking the state, austerity, privatising national assets, demonising minorities etc. Ergo, the Irish were right to call them Tories (Thorai), meaning robbers, brigands, outlaws i.e. people never to be trusted.