BSF controversy continues

Released 12/07/2010

Gove forced to apologise ahead of Commons questions today

The Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Simon Hughes, has distanced his party from education secretary Michael Gove over the contentious decision to cancel 700 school rebuilding projects.

Hughes said it would be "a nonsense" to build the new free schools proposed by Gove using cash that could have improved existing buildings.

Gove has agreed to meet Lib Dem councillors concerned by his announcement, and the issue is likely to be raised at a Liberal Democrat meeting organised by Nick Clegg, the party's leader and the coalition deputy prime minister.

Gove will be answering questions on his proposals in Commons today, and he has also personally accepted the blame for the botched handling of the school rebuilding programme cuts.

Gove published a list last week of schools affected by the cuts, but was then forced to issue an apology after it emerged several schools which thought they would not be affected, later learned their plans faced the axe.

Gove is also facing protests from backbench Tory MPs angry that their local school programme has been frozen. Mark Garnier, MP for Wyre Forest, said he was raising the cancellation of a major school building programme in his constituency.

LIST OF ERRORS

Gove has twice apologised for the errors in a list of reprieved schools, to the Commons and to the Local Government Association.

Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary, wrote to Gove asking him whether he had at any point received advice from departmental officials or Partnerships for Schools which recommended or suggested consulting with local authorities before publishing the lists of schools due for closure. He also asked whether he was advised not to publish the error-strewn list of schools.

Balls has also asked whether official advice was given on potential compensation claims from local authorities, contractors and suppliers from cancelling capital projects.

Gove, who said the £55bn building programme had to be axed because it was badly managed and wasteful, was forced to apologise in the Commons after admitting 25 mistakes made in the list of schools that could proceed with their rebuilding. Gove has promised to visit each of those schools to apologise in person.

Hughes said on the BBC Politics Show: "It would be a nonsense to take money that could be used for improving existing schools to create new schools... The will of the local community is for existing schools to continue."

Hughes overall backed Gove's judgment - even though he was uncomfortable with the announcement - as the government has to deal with the economic crisis.

"There is not the money left to go ahead with the programme that Labour left us," he said. "We need to make sure that wherever possible where schools desperately need to be rebuilt or replaced they are, but in the end the most important thing is the teaching, is the quality of the headteacher, the management."

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