Priority School Building Programme meaning

In this issue: Local government reorganisation Public procurement Planning Social housing Adult social care Children’s social care Education Governance Local government finance Healthcare Highways Environmental law and climate change Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Local government reorganisation MHCLG publishes decisions on local government reorganisation The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has issued an update letter confirming that no determination has yet been reached on proposals for local government reorganisation in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove, with further assessment ongoing before arrangements are finalised. MHCLG has also released consultation findings and letters confirming implementation in devolution priority areas to create: five unitary councils in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock, five unitary councils (option 1A) in Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton, and three unitary councils in each of Norfolk and Suffolk. Council...

In this issue: Local government finance Governance Social housing Education Children's social care Adult social care Public procurement Planning Healthcare Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Local government finance MHCLG confirms £78bn final local government finance settlement with fairer funding reforms The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced a £78bn Final Local Government Finance Settlement, alongside a £440m Recovery Grant boost to support the councils facing the greatest pressures, addressing deprivation and enhancing local services. The package offers multi-year certainty and features measures including writing off 90% of historic SEND deficits, a £272m increase for homelessness services, and £39.6m in mayoral capacity funding to protect people at risk of homelessness and improve local outcomes. Using an evidence-led approach, drawing on the latest indices of multiple deprivation, MHCLG says the reforms will direct a fair share to communities most affected by past reductions. See: LNB News 10/02/2026...

This Practice Note reviews the principal issues and risks that routinely arise on major construction for education providers, spanning higher education, further education, academies and independent schools. See also Practice Note: Building Schools for the Future/Priority School Building Programme [Archived]. Typical procurement routes While any conventional procurement route can be used on an education project, three factors usually drive the route selected by education clients for their construction programmes: Nature of client Education clients seldom commission large capital schemes. It is not their core activity and, except for sizeable university estates teams, they rarely possess the in-house expertise to procure major works successfully. They are regarded as inexperienced construction clients. Funding Funding is often capped and time limited. As a result, works are commonly let on a fixed-price contract, typically at a higher cost, to secure the level of certainty and control sought by funders (public or private investment) and governors. See Funding below. Risk management Site risks on education schemes are generally...

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained. It reviews the Building Schools for the Future government initiative together with the current Priority School Building Programme, and examines the construction contracts adopted as well as the negotiation issues commonly encountered in practice... Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was a Labour-led programme announced in 2003 by the Department for Education and Skills (which later became the Department for Education, or DFE), and it launched in 2004. Its purpose included, among other objectives, delivering a step change in children’s education by upgrading facilities, property and learning environments across local secondary schools. BSF was intended to be financed by a £55bn investment to improve schools over a 15–20-year period. Delivery was co‑ordinated nationally by Partnerships for Schools, set up by the DFE as both a company and a non‑departmental public body (ie a government‑sponsored organisation operating at arm’s length) for this purpose. The programme was funded jointly by the DFE and Partnerships UK,...

Abandon Describes a situation where the contractor halts performing the works for an extended, uninterrupted span of days (eg 20 business days) or for a greater aggregate of non-consecutive days (eg 60 business days) across the project’s duration or within a stated timeframe (eg 12 months), doing so wilfully and without justification at any stage of delivery or execution. Abandonment is ordinarily treated as a contractor default, enabling the Authority to terminate the Project Agreement and/or permitting Project Co to end the construction contract immediately for cause. Acceptance Tests Tests carried out to confirm whether the facility (or another project asset) achieves the standards required for the Authority to deem facility complete and accept it. Access Protocol The protocol that Project Co must follow in order to obtain access to the buildings forming part of the project at any time during the term. For instance, on a social housing scheme or a school, prerequisites would have to be satisfied by Project Co before...