To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools have been commissioned outside the Building Schools for the Future programme in each of the last three years; and how many of them were commissioned under the private finance initiative model. (202534)

The Department does not commission school buildings itself except for academies; such decisions are usually taken by the local authority or school owner.

However, for new academies, traditionally procured by the Department, the following numbers of Funding Agreements were issued in each of the last three years: 15 in 2005-06, 21 in 2006-07, and 17 in 2007-08. A further 14 Funding Agreements were issued for academies to be delivered through the National Framework.

Since 2005-06, the Department's private finance initiative resources have been allocated to Building Schools for the Future.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many new schools went over their construction budget in each of the last five years. (202548)

The Department does not usually commission schools itself, except for academies; such information would, therefore, be held locally.

In the case of the academies programme, 16 of the 42 completed projects have exceeded their agreed construction budget. In a further six projects, final accounts have not yet been received.

To date, 13 schools have been built as part of Building Schools for the Future and none of these received additional funding from central Government over and above the budgetary allocation agreed with the local authority for its group of schools.