Schools 'crumble as SNP fails to deliver funding system'

ANGER is growing at the way Scottish schoolchildren have been left in crumbling buildings caused by the SNP's failure to fund new projects.

Pupils at hundreds of schools across the country are having to learn in buildings with little or no heating, leaking roofs, deep cracks in walls and gaps between window sills.

Councils say they have not been able to press ahead with commissioning new schools for the past 19 months as the Scottish Government tries to set up its Scottish Futures Trust to fund major projects.

And the delay in setting up the SFT has also been pinpointed by the building industry as one of the major reasons that 20,000 jobs are likely to be lost in that sector before Christmas.

With 832 schools in Scotland designated as poor or bad, meaning they need replacing or refurbishment, the issue of failing to commission new projects has reached crisis point, according to councils.

However, the government insisted it would be able to commission new school projects from next year and councils could still approach it for funding under the old method.

Under the previous administration major projects were funded by private finance initiatives or public private partnerships, but the SNP has stated its opposition to this system.

Instead it has pursued the SFT as the way forward, but as yet this has not led to any new commissions, leaving schools needing repairs in limbo.

Neil Fletcher, the Liberal Democrat vice-chairman of the local government body Cosla, said: "The Scottish Government does say councils are able to come forward with new PPP projects and the form is still on the website, but the fact is that the current governing party has a stated aim of opposing PPPs.

''This means that councils will not take the risk of spending millions of pounds on a bid when there is a serious doubt of it being accepted. This has forced them to wait for the Scottish Futures Trust to start operating, but we don't expect that to happen until 2010-11 at the earliest, but more likely 2011-12."

One of Scotland's most senior council officers told The Scotsman: "It is an open secret that we are all queueing at the door desperately waiting to find out what is going on. We don't know the details of the Scottish Futures Trust, what the funding mechanism actually is and when it will start."

Ministers at a debate on the SFT yesterday said that they were keeping their promise of matching Labour's promised school building programme "brick for brick" but were told by opposition speakers that all of the projects currently under way had been commissioned under the Labour/Lib Dem Scottish Executive.

A spokesman for the First Minister said that 250 new schools would be built in the lifetime of this parliament, but was unable to say if he meant all of them would have been commissioned by the SNP.

The Lib Dem MSP Jeremy Purvis said of the SNP administration:

"They have got themselves into that zone where they genuinely believe that the schools they are opening were conceived, were built, designed and financed by them."

Meanwhile parents and staff at Scotland's 832 crumbling schools are becoming increasingly frustrated.

Mike Robb, deputy chairman of the parent council at Portobello High School in Edinburgh, said: "The problem is that a two-year delay is long enough in itself in a child's lifetime in a school, but in reality this is made worse because it takes six or seven years for a new school to be available from the point of conception."

The Wick High Action Group is led by Professor Iain Baikie, head of the parents' association. Prof Baikie, a former pupil at the school, said: "The state of the school is terrible. Until recently there were two toilet cubicles for 440 boys. There is also no soap in the toilets.

"Younger pupils pretend to be unwell so they can go to the loo at home. Some go the local supermarket to use the toilets.

"Some of the conditions are appalling. If anyone tells you that it is a category 'C' school, they are lying. It is definitely a 'D' rate school. It is sad because the children are the ones who are missing out."

At Lasswade High School in Midlothian, headteacher Albert Jaster said: "Our pupils are a great bunch and they just get on with it. But they deserve to be educated in a better building. We need a facility that is based on 21st-century designs, not those of the 1950s.

"We really need a new school, not just for the pupils, but for the parents, the staff and the community as a whole."

FACT BOX

THE Scottish Government is attempting to recruit a new chief executive for the Scottish Futures Trust on a six-figure salary.

It has already recruited a chairman, the former investment banker Sir Angus Grossart, and two non-executive directors.

The SFT is proposed to use a variation of private finance initiatives, called not-for-profit distribution (NPD). This means that the profit on a contract is set early. It is uncertain whether it will work out any cheaper than public private partnerships.

The SFT will then act as a commissioning body and a central point for expertise using this funding mechanism.

It has yet to commission any projects but John Swinney, the finance secretary, claims it will next year.

In the meantime he has announced that it will be involved in two projects in the south-east and north of Scotland.

Delay over SFT 'to cost 20,000 jobs'

THE delay in getting the Scottish Futures Trust ready will lead to the loss of 20,000 jobs in construction by Christmas, it has been claimed.

The Scottish Building Federation delivered the grim assessment for the industry in a briefing to MSPs this week.

And it was one of the central charges laid before the finance secretary, John Swinney, in a debate on the trust yesterday.

However, with the help of the Conservatives and Greens, the SNP staved off a bid by the Liberal Democrats and Labour to cancel the SFT and return to previous funding methods.

The federation said: "The Scottish construction industry is losing capacity at an alarming rate. Our members estimate that over 20,000 jobs will have been lost across the whole industry by Christmas."

One main cause of the loss of work was the delay in public procurement projects caused by the wait for the SFT, it added.

Labour finance spokesman David Whitton said: "If the SFT is not yet ready then the Scottish Government should recognise the crisis affecting industry and be bold by allowing councils and health boards to use existing PFI models to bring new schools and hospitals forward now."

But Mr Swinney insisted that the government was bringing forward new projects totalling £3.5 billion this financial year.

Tory finance spokesman Derek Brownlee accused the SNP, Labour and the Lib Dems of not acting in taxpayers' interest. He said: "The only issue should be developing best value for taxpayers."

Labour leader Iain Gray pointed out that every school opening attended recently by Fiona Hyslop, the education secretary, was for a school commissioned by the previous Labour/Lib Dem Scottish Executive.

"What is Ms Hyslop going to do when she runs out of Labour schools to open?" he asked.

He asked when the Scottish Government was going to commission any new schools.

But First Minister Alex Salmond said that since May last year there had been 11 projects signed off involving 55 schools planned for 30,000

Heating bills and leaking roof eat into the budget

NAME: Lasswade High School

COUNCIL AREA: Midlothian

PROBLEMS: Roofing consistently leaks, with water spilling into the sports centre and technology and science areas. Maintaining the roof and heating costs the school £30,000 to £40,000 per year more than the standard £25,000 maintenance budget.

The long horizontal shape of the school means it takes the building a long time to warm up. Children sit cold in classrooms on one side of the school while the other end is warm.

The school recently obtained a new cafeteria and toilet facilities, but Albert Jaster, the headteacher, says the new areas just illustrate the gulf in the facilities.

REASON FOR DELAY: A Midlothian Council spokesman said: "We are waiting for the details of the Scottish Futures Trust."

Lack of sports facilities and a too small dining hall

NAME: Mearns Academy, Laurencekirk

COUNCIL AREA: Aberdeenshire

PROBLEMS: One of four priority schools in the area, it is overcrowded, has toilets designed for primary school children, lacks sports facilities and the dining hall is too small.

Changing rooms only have capacity for 30 children. The small dining hall means that 300 children leave the school at lunch time which has raised safety concerns. The school needs to be replaced with the cost estimated at £30 million.

REASON FOR DELAY: A spokesman for Aberdeenshire Council said: "The problem is the same as it was last year.

"We cannot proceed with any of these school projects until we know what is happening with the Scottish Futures Trust. We cannot put forward any PPP projects as things stand."

Broken boilers and toilet trouble

NAME: Wick High School

COUNCIL AREA: Highlands

PROBLEMS: The boiler regularly breaks down, creating heating problems throughout the school. Cracked pipes make classrooms unusable, with water spilling in, and broken windowsills let cold air in during the winter months.

The stairwells and walls are covered in deep cracks, which parents and staff alike find deeply concerning.

There are virtually no social spaces for the children to congregate in. The dining room holds about 100 people, but with a population of 840 pupils it is not big enough.

Some children eat their lunch sitting on the floor in nearby hallways, unable to find a seat in the canteen.

The school's corridors are too narrow and are not big enough to accommodate the flow of traffic as the pupils move between lessons.

The swimming pool had some sharp tiles which forced its closure.

There are also major problems with the toilets.

REASON FOR DELAY: Wick High School's rector, Alister Traill, said: "Funding of £1 million was promised to the school a number of years ago to improve facilities. The money was previously allocated but is tied up in a backlog. The Scottish Futures Trust has left schools waiting. I hope that funding becomes available from the government."

Pupils failed by unusable lifts and floods

NAME: Portobello High School

COUNCIL AREA: Edinburgh

PROBLEMS: The school has a 1960s eight-storey tower block where the lifts regularly break down. One is now almost unusable, and if the second lift goes it will mean the school may have to be shut.

The heating system regularly fails. The power system is also in danger of failing. In the past, school inspectors have said that poor heating and ventilation were affecting the performance of students.

In May this year, police were called and hundreds of pupils were sent home as the school was plagued by floods.

Parents blamed the crumbling buildings for contributing to the damage. At the time, the head boy, Declan Slaven, described going to school there like "learning in a prison".

REASON FOR DELAY: Mike Robb, the deputy chairman of the Parent Council, said: "The school was due to be part of the next wave of PPP projects commissioned last year, but when the SNP came in the project seemed to go into limbo."pupils.