Michael Gove brings an end to Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme

Announcing a complete overhaul of investment in England's schools, Education Secretary Michael Grove brought an end to the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

He said, "In the light of the public finances, it would have been irresponsible to carry on regardless with an inflexible, and needlessly complex programme."

The news will come as a great blow to Chiswick Community School whose BSF funding has been withdrawn meaning that the planned refurbishment and redevelopment of the only state secondary school in Chiswick must be put on hold with the foreseeable future.

Mary Macleod MP blamed the previous admnistration for the cuts saying, “I am disappointed that we are not in a position to be able to go ahead at this point with the planned refurbishments and improvements to Chiswick Community School as currently scoped in the BSF Programme. Labour left us with the largest deficit in our peacetime history which has meant that my colleague the Rt. Hon. Michael Gove MP, the Secretary of State for Education, has had to make some difficult and immediate decisions about how to get best value for money. The Secretary of State’s capital review team will now be indentifying ways to drive down costs, get buildings more quickly with a higher proportion of money going direct to the frontline.”

She continued, "I understand how important education is and I assure you that I will work with all schools in the constituency to understand their needs and priorities and ensure these are represented to the Secretary of State for Education as they conduct their review of future capital investment in schools.”

Other local schools affected by the cuts are:

• Acton High Secondary School
• Twyford CE Secondary School
• London Oratory
• Sacred Heart High School
• Cardinal Vaughan Memorial RC School

The Government is now launching a comprehensive Review of all capital investment in schools, early years, colleges and sixth forms. Led by Sebastian James, Group Operations Director of DSG international plc, the Review team includes Kevin Grace, Tesco - Director of Property Services, Barry Quirk, Chief Executive of Lewisham, John Hood former Vice-Chancellor of University of Oxford and Sir John Egan, former Chief Executive of Jaguar and BAA.

The Secretary of State also announced that he will be ending funding for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) design advice service associated with the BSF programme.

July 8, 2010