“Public confidence needs rebuilt as well as school walls: and fast” – Green Candidate Andy Wightman
The Scottish Government’s resiliency committee has met to discuss the emergency closure of seventeen PPP schools across Edinburgh – but The Scottish Greens say the ‘fiasco’ highlights the need to expose private finance failures.
The city council announced on Friday evening that the schools would remain closed after the Easter holidays because Edinburgh Schools Partnership, the consortium in charge of PPP schools building maintenance, could not provide safety guarantees.
The closures were actioned after repair works at Oxgangs Primary revealed serious structural issues with the building’s walls, prompting fears that all schools built under the same PFI contract could also be compromised.
Education secretary Angela Constance said yesterday that the Scottish Government would offer its full support to keep disruption to a minimum. Councils across Scotland have also been asked to carry out safety checks on their own buildings ‘as soon as possible’.
Ms Constance said: “The safety of children, young people and staff in our schools is paramount, and I recognise the concern of parents. I am reassured by the prompt action taken by Edinburgh City Council.
“While this is primarily an issue for the council, the First Minister and I have spoken to the council leadership this afternoon and offered the Scottish Government’s full support to keep disruption to children’s education at an absolute minimum.
“The First Minister will today chair a meeting of the Scottish Government’s resilience committee to ensure that everything possible is being done to help.
“It is too early to assess any wider implications for schools in other parts of Scotland. However, Scottish Government officials have written to all local authorities this weekend to ask them to carry out any necessary checks on their own estate as soon as possible.”
The affected schools were all built under the same PFI contract, managed by Edinburgh Schools Partnership (ESP). Private Finance Initiative – PFI – uses private sector capacity and public resources to deliver public sector infrastructure projects and services according to a specification defined by the public sector. Also known as PPP (Public Private Partnership arrangements), the arrangements were seen as good value for money for cash-strapped public sector but many have criticised PFI schemes for generating huge profits for private companies at the expense of the taxpayer.
A BBC report in 2003 explained:
The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was a creation of the Conservative government in the early 1990s – but it has been enthusiastically embraced by Labour.
Governments and local authorities have always paid private contractors to build roads, schools, prisons and hospitals out of tax money.
But in 1992, the Conservatives hit on a way of getting the contractors to foot the bill.
Under PFI, contractors pay for the construction costs and then rent the finished project back to the public sector.
This allows the government to get new hospitals, schools and prisons without raising taxes.
The contractor, for its part, is allowed to keep any cash left over from the design and construction process, in addition to the ‘rent’ money.
However, critics say that the government is just mortgaging the future – and the long-run cost of paying the private sector to run these schemes is more than it would cost the public sector to build them itself.
It was argued back then that many hospitals and schools would not be built at all if it was not for private finance as the public money was simply not available, but there were early warnings: some PFI projects were not up to standard and private companies were accused of cutting corners in order to maximise profits.
Problems first came to light in Edinburgh in January when a wall blew off Oxgangs Primary during Storm Gertrude. The school was closed, with three others also closed as a precautionary measure, but on Friday contractors carrying out remedial works at Oxgangs raised concerns that all 17 schools could be at risk, resulting in indefinite city-wide closures from Monday.
The affected schools are: Braidburn, Broomhouse Primary, Castleview Primary, Craigour Park Primary, Craigmount High, Craigroyston Primary, Drummond Community High, Firrhill High, Forthview Primary, Gracemount High, Oxgangs Primary School, Pirniehill Primary, Rowanfield, Royal High, St David’s Primary, St Joseph’s Primary and St Peters RC Primary. The Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre, also built under the scheme, will also shut.
The ESP has apologised for the disruption caused and are working to get the schools open again as soon as it’s safe to do so.
A spokesperson said: “We are very disappointed by these latest findings and will be working with those responsible for the original design and build of the affected schools to conduct full structural surveys.
“Once we know the results of these surveys, we will be able to determine the scale of the problem, and put plans in place to remedy any and all faults.”
Edinburgh City Council leader Andrew Burns said: “Clearly we have every right to expect these schools to have been built to a good standard and in accordance with industry practice.
“We now know this isn’t the case. ESP have let the council down but more importantly they have let the children, parents and staff of this city down.”
The Scottish Greens say parents deserve answers and that the problems associated with Private Finance Initative schemes may go beyond the Edinburgh schools debacle.
Green education spokesperson on the city council, Cllr Melanie Main said: “As a parent with a child at secondary school I know how angry parents and pupils will feel at these sudden closures. For weeks I have been seeking reassurances that schools have been thoroughly inspected and that they were safe to use. To be told, at very short notice, that this could not be guaranteed after all, is utterly astonishing.
“It is vital that the council and the private consortium running the schools makes absolutely clear what construction problems it has found and how quickly they will be fixed. After that I will be seeking further guarantees that ESP meets all the costs in full.
“Finally, since one of the members of ESP, Galliford Try, is still building schools under the SNP’s Scottish Futures Trust model, ministers need to offer assurances that any construction problems are not being repeated.”
The Greens add that the implications go well beyond Edinburgh schools.
Green candidate for Lothian, Andy Wightman, said: “The private financing of schools, invented by the Tories, and championed by Labour, is not only a feature of Edinburgh. Nor is it even restricted to schools, with hospitals and other health facilities also built in this way.
“So the Edinburgh school fiasco opens up a massive can of worms as to what the true legacy is of years of private financing of core public services.
“That is why Green MSPs, in the new parliament, will be demanding a root and branch review of all PPP/PFI contracts – the cost, the condition of buildings and the future funding of them if further failures are uncovered. Public confidence needs rebuilt as well as school walls; and fast.”
RISE Lothians candidate Colin Fox has also weighed in, demanding the resignation of council leader Cllr Andrew Burns. He said: “Andrew Burns hand wringing about the revelation that 17 city schools, built under the notorious PFI scheme which have been found to be too dangerous to use, rings hollow.
“Burns was centrally involved when these discredited PFI deals were struck and has, with his colleagues, supported their use despite warnings that they were both hugely expensive and took school building outside council control.
“Now we discover that not only is PFI a rip off it but it has saddled parents, staff and students with unsafe buildings that look like being closed indefinitely.
“Councillor Burns cannot duck this issue by blaming ESP since they were appointed by councillors who accepted that the PFI process involved secrecy and a loss of council control with the results we now see.
“Faced with the monumental crisis his policies are now imposing on Edinburgh schools Cllr Burns should take the only honest course and resign as council leader.”
Contingency arrangements are being actively considered by council staff and developments will be updated to parents tomorrow (Monday). The council says priority will be given to special schools and secondary schools, where students are preparing for exams.
Parents will receive updates via text messages and on the council’s website.
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