Memorandum submitted by Partnerships for
Schools (PfS)
INTRODUCTION
PfS is the NDPB and central delivery vehicle
set up by the DfES to deliver the Building Schools for the Future
(BSF) programme. PfS's role is to manage delivery of the BSF programme,
ensuring that the outcomes required by DfES, are achieved. PfS's
role is to both act as a facilitator, to support Local Authorities
(LA) in delivering individual BSF projects, and at the same time
act as a gatekeeper to ensure that the objectives of the programme
and maximum value for money are achieved for the public purse.
In working with LAs to achieve the programme objectives, PfS's
role includes seeking to ensure efficiencies are achieved and
establishing best practice consistent with a national strategic
programme.
At an individual LA level, PfS works with the
authorities to establish their educational and estates strategies
and local business cases, prior to running a rigorous competition;
the outcome of which is the establishment of a Local Education
Partnership (LEP). LEPs, which will be created for the vast majority
of Local Authorities, are local delivery vehicles, partnerships
between the local authority (10%), the successful private sector
partner (80%) and PfS (10%). Each LEP has a clearly specified
long term partnering contract with the LA as strategic commissioner,
and then individual contracts will be agreed between the LEP and
LA for individual school projects over the life of the long term
partnership . The individual school contracts are either PFI or
conventional, depending on which offers best value for money.
The presence of the local authority and PfS as shareholders in
the LEP ensures a degree of transparency and alignment of interests
in the delivery of the long term local investment programme which
has not been present in other forms of procurement. This procurement
and delivery approach was specifically designed to meet the long
term educational and efficiency objectives of the BSF programme.
The large majority of local authorities have
embraced the LEP structure as an innovative way forward for schools
procurement in their local authority areas. Many see further benefits
beyond schools by creating procurement mechanisms that could become
major drivers of other investment or regeneration activity. Some
have questioned the need for a LEP and in most cases, PfS has
been able to evidence that the LEP does indeed offer material
advantages over traditional procurement, whilst in other cases
it has been agreed that alternative approaches will be followed—either
because the LA does not have the type of long term local investment
programme that underpins the value of a LEP for BSF, or because
it has been agreed that suitable existing arrangements are already
in place.
Once the LEP is set-up the selected private
sector partner is granted exclusivity over all investment in the
secondary school estate for that particular LEP area for a period
of up to 10 years, subject both to tough and contractually binding
continuous improvement benchmarks, and demonstrating that its
proposals for future schemes offer good value for money. The overall
result is a win:win. It is a win for the local authority because
they can contract with certainty and evidence real value through
long term arrangements. The private sector on the other hand can
see a longer term relationship that provides certainty for them
and therefore an ability to price keenly whilst investing for
the future. Finally, central government secures the confidence
of a national programme managed on a strategic basis with considerable
learning that can be recycled into future schemes with commensurate
efficiency benefits to the public purse.
A key part of the LEP's role once established
is to ensure that the educational estate is used to its maximum
education and community advantage, whether through extended schools
or, at the most practical level, ensuring that any development
is not a short-term fix but a sustainable and flexible resource
based on whole life costings and value for money.
ROLE OF
PFS
When interacting with local authorities, PfS
has the following core roles:
— As national programme manager approving
the scope of a local authority's scheme and allocating it funds;
— Providing guidance on and challenging
local authorities to meet the education policy objectives set
down by DfES;
— Ensuring local authorities agree
and keep to a project timetable for the delivery of BSF consistent
with predetermined policy guidelines;
— Providing benchmarking data to ensure
value for money; and
— Embedding continuous improvement
into the programme by communicating best practice.
SUSTAINABILITY
PfS's main focus in relation to sustainability
is environmental. PfS has to ensure that BREEAM for Schools "very
good", and—in London—10% renewable energy across
the carbon footprint, are achieved. These are embedded within
our standard documentation (at http://www.p4s.org.uk/StandardDocuments.htm)
and evidence to date from the earliest schemes suggest that these
are manageable within the funding available. We continue to keep
affordability under review on behalf of the DfES, especially in
light of new regulatory requirements for energy, acoustics and
ventilation.
A Design Quality Indicator (DQI) for Schools
assessment also needs to be carried out for every BSF school.
This identifies various environmental issues, like energy efficiency
and operation, and percentage of construction waste, that must
be considered, and that the LEPs have to annually report on, against
the standards as set out in the programme's Key Performance Indicators.
Contractors also have to demonstrate when bidding, how they will
deal with the likes of: environmental assessment; water and energy
conservation; reducing waste during construction; and renewable
energy.
We push hard for whole life solutions. The whole
life costing approach inherent in PFI naturally encourages this,
so much effort is spent ensuring that LAs ring-fence budgets to
ensure that Design and Build solutions are built and maintained
to comparable standards, independent of their funding route.
PfS also indirectly plays a role in wider socio-economic
sustainability. Local authority visions have to cover the extent
to which schools will be encouraged to work together and with
other local partners, including the local Learning and Skills
Council, to deliver a broad based 14-19 learning and skills curriculum.
We also encourage and endeavour to facilitate joined-up funding
and services to create extended schools, keeping up frequent contacts
with for example Sport England or local regeneration bodies. When
scoping and specifying their estate strategy, we challenge all
schools to be designed to be inclusive and easily available to
the community outside the school day. Key to this is that the
DQI process and the standard Output Specification (which we continuously
keep under review) that encourages contractors to create flexible
buildings, sourced from sustainable materials, to ensure future
adaptability to changing educational and organisational needs.
STRUCTURED TO
DELIVER
PfS is organised to ensure our resources are
best placed to deliver. The PfS organisation reflects the two
distinct phases of any major capital programme which is no different
for BSF; specification and delivery. The specification phase,
managed by an Education and Planning Team, runs the programme
up to the point at which the local authority has developed an
approved Education vision and has secured the necessary business
case approvals to be ready to go to the market for competitive
tendering. The Transaction and Finance Team then runs the programme
through the procurement stage through selection of Preferred Bidder,
financial close and setting up, and operation of, the LEP. These
teams are supported by National Programme and Communications Teams.
Throughout this programme, the DfES ensures
that policy objectives are specified and secured by approving
each project at various stages in its development. Most notably,
the Education Vision itself, now captured under an overarching
process called Strategy for Change of which the vision is an important
component, is approved by Ministers.
PROGRAMME PROGRESS
The programme has now reached considerable momentum.
We are presently working with all 38 local authorities in waves
1-3. Six projects are at Preferred Bidder—Bradford, Bristol,
Lancashire, Greenwich, Sheffield and Newcastle—with Bristol
expecting to reach financial close and set up its LEP very shortly.
An additional project, Solihull, has nominated its preferred ICT
supplier and will shortly nominate its overall private sector
partner for construction related work. A further six wave 1 projects
have short-listed their bidders. The first wave 2 projects have
entered procurement with most of the remainder likely to follow
over the next two quarters. All but one of Wave 3 LAs have had
their Education Vision approved and the first schemes are due
to come to market within the next few months. More detail is provided
at http://www.p4s.org.uk/current—projects.htm
LEARNING LESSONS
Getting the specification right is only one
part of the equation. How the successful private sector partners
work in partnership with the local authority and PfS in the future
to deliver is also equally key. The advantages of a long-term
programme and the LEP model is that we can continuously improve.
While we have learnt many lessons with regard to the development,
specification and procurement processes to date, the first batch
of BSF schools are not due to open until September 2007. We do
not expect to get everything right first time, but we do expect
to see significant improvements from previous schools procurement.
We should be mindful of making comparisons with past outcomes
since BSF represents a step change in approach, moving to long
term strategic programmes of local investment, rather than ad
hoc individual school projects being delivered as in the past.
Learning from repeat business will ensure that the less good performers
learn the lessons of the best. Overall, the objective is to drive
through continuous improvement and value for money for the public
sector, including capturing and disseminating all aspects of sustainability,
whether environmental, economic, social, technological or educational,
that a long programme of this type promotes.
CONCLUSION
The BSF programme is an ambitious programme.
It was established with ambitious timescales and programme objectives.
It is right that this was done; although there have been many
challenges faced in the last 2 years, they have all been met and
solutions developed. The first projects are close to fruition
and the first schools close to starting work on site. The programme
is now gaining an unstoppable momentum and it is clear that 2006-07
will be a year of considerable delivery. Throughout all of this
however, we are very clear that we cannot just invest billions
of pounds of taxpayers money without clear and demanding objectives
with respect to sustainability in all its forms. Sustainability
is an objective that runs hand in hand with ensuring that we use
the money wisely and efficiently to create transformational learning
environments for all children.
June 2006
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