PRESS RELEASE : Government response to judicial review hearings on Building Schools for the Future [January 2011]

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 24 January 2011.

On Monday 24 January 2011, 6 local authorities in England (Luton, Nottingham, Waltham Forest, Kent, Newham and Sandwell) begin their judicial review action in relation to the ending of Building Schools for the Future.

A Department for Education spokesperson said:

The Secretary of State terminated the Building Schools for the Future programme because it was unnecessarily complex, poor value for money and unaffordable in the economic climate. In none of the cases are these local authorities challenging the wider decision to end BSF.

We are robustly defending the claims made by the local authorities and believe we have a strong case. The coalition government has been clear that the end of BSF is not the end of school rebuilding. That’s why we have launched a comprehensive review of all capital spending so that school building can be done more efficiently and quickly.