The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, recently announced that hundreds of school rebuilds which have not reached financial close will not go ahead under Building Schools for the Future (BSF).

The Coalition argues that in the current economic climate, whichever party is in government would have to cancel many BSF projects in order to help reduce the national deficit. However, teaching unions are up-in-arms at the decision. Christine Blower, General-Secretary of the NUT, has said “poor learning environments have a negative impact on the education of children and young people”.

Despite imminent cuts in public funding across the board, unions are likely to insist that new school buildings are money well-spent, even in a recession. It will also leave the government open to legal challenges from a raft of local authorities unhappy at the decision to cut BSF funding.

Posted by Mark Blois
0115 976 6087
mblois@brownejacobson.com