BCSE Director's Statement
Commenting on the announcement on schools capital funding by Michael Gove today (July 19), Ty Goddard, director of the British Council for School Environments, said:"Today's announcement recognises the profound need for investment in our school buildings. A decent school environment matters.
"Key to the new capital funding programme's success will be a common sense approach to allocation, which takes into account the needs of schools which apply. We must guard against some of the problems that were a hallmark of early PFI-funded schools.
"We also welcome funding to meet the requirements for new school places, which will create some breathing space for hard-pressed schools."
On the specific comments in regard to the recommendations of the James Review he added:
"The importance of a comprehensive survey into the school estate cannot be understated -- we can't be sure of what we need to do until we're sure of what the problems are.
"Complete standardisation of design may not be a panacea -- one size does not fit all.
"Simpler regulations and less red tape will lead to a large sigh of relief for all those professionals involved in the design and construction of schools.
"We look forward to responding to the consultation on the other recommendations."
For further information please contact Ben Furner on 01273 463461, 07946 355795 or ben@furnercommunications.co.uk.
Please find the statement details from this lunchtime's parliamentary discussion here