SCHOOL CONSULTANTS EARNT £170M

Local authorities have spent £170 million on consultants in a government scheme to refurbish and rebuild schools in England, the Conservatives say.

They say the £50 billion Building Schools for the Future programme has delivered "hardly any improvements".

The Schools Secretary Ed Balls defended the scheme and accused the Conservatives of planning to make cuts.

The government says 87 schools have been improved or rebuilt, with a further 33 due to open within days.

But the Shadow Children's Secretary Michael Gove questioned whether it was value for money.

He said that since Building Schools for the Future (BSF) began in 2004 a new school had opened in just 15 local authorities.

He said consultants had been paid by local authorities bidding for the construction work and for giving advice about the work itself. The information was obtained via the Freedom of Information Act.

'Mismanagement'

He said: "In tough economic times it is vital that ministers get good value for taxpayers' money.

"But under the government's bureaucratic school refurbishment scheme, millions has already been spent on consultants with hardly any improvements actually delivered."

Mr Gove predicts that consultants could go on to earn a total of £1.5 billion from the scheme.

He added: "We need a government that is able to get more for less. Ministers have already increased their costing by £10bn due to their failure to deliver the scheme on time.

"At a time when family budgets are more stretched than ever, we simply cannot afford this level of mismanagement in Ed Balls's department."

More of this article can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8240711.stm