Disclosure log

Topic

Date Requested

Publication Date

Request

Release

Trade Unions and PfS

25 May 2010

21 June 2010

Please supply information for the amount of funding given to trade unions and the amount of staff time given to trade union activities in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

As an organisation we do not have union representatives that incur facility time at our cost, nor do we pay anything to unions for the period that you mention.

Topic

Date Requested

Publication Date

Request

Release

Local authorities, BSF waves and split schemes

06 August 2010

25 August 2010

What is the maximum value of schemes that authorities were allowed to apply for in any one funding Wave?

Why were some Authorities required to split schemes across a number of Waves while other Authorities got all their projects funded under a single Wave?

With regards to split waves, local authorities were originally asked by the former Department for Education and Skills to provide a list of schools in groups that were geographically coherent to the local authority.  Some local authorities produced one large group and others produced several smaller groups.  Each group of schools was prioritised based on deprivation (using free school meals as a proxy indicator) and GCSE results.

Once the groups had been allocated to different waves, the Department and PfS discussed with local authorities the opportunity to split large groups into smaller ones for ease of management.  Some local authorities opted to do this, whereas others opted out.  Where a local authority decided to split their group of such, each group would be allocated to a different wave.

BSF 05 July 2010 definitions

15 September 2010

13 October 2010

Information which sets out the basis on which the criteria used to determine whether schools would be classified as "unaffected", "stopped" or "for discussion" were drawn up (including information given to the Department for Education or to Partnerships for Schools in relation to possible alternative criteria).

On 5 July the Secretary of State announced a stop on expenditure on the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme until a more efficient use of resources has been determined. BSF developments are being maintained for three groups of “unaffected” schools: those in a local authority area’s initial BSF scheme where Financial Close has been reached;

the first projects due to be taken forward in a local authority area where Financial Close has not been reached but where very significant work has been undertaken, to the point of appointing a preferred bidder at "close of dialogue"; and 

some schools with planned projects subsequent to their authority’s initial scheme – projects with Outline Business Cases approved before 1 January 2010.

Local authorities whose schools did not fit into the aforementioned criteria, decided by the Secretary of State, were classified as ‘stopped’.  At the time of the 5 July announcement some schools were classified as ‘for discussion’ as the Secretary of State had not yet made a decision on whether the BSF investment should proceed.

1 January 2010 for OBC cut-off date

15 September 2010

13 October 2010

Information which sets out why 1 January 2010 was chosen as the date by which projects needed to have obtained Outline Business Case approval in order to be classified as "unaffected"

The Government confirmed its commitment to tightening control over public expenditure in a letter from the then Chief Secretary, David Laws, to the Cabinet on 17 May 2010.

That letter committed the Government to re-examining all spending approvals made since 1 January 2010 and to ensuring that they were all affordable and consistent with the new Government’s priorities. During the interim period, all approvals given after 1 January were to be considered as suspended. The outcome of that review was announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, on 17 June 2010.

Although the decision to end BSF was subject to a wider review of all DfE spending, it was inevitable and appropriate that it would take account of and reflect the Government’s agreed position. Therefore, the decision by the Secretary of State for Education to stop BSF projects which had not reached OBC approval by 1 January 2010 ensured that it was entirely consistent with the Government’s overall policy on the approval of spending made in the last months of the previous administration.