To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the (a) cost, (b) capital cost and (c) cost per square metre of each Building Schools for the Future project. (316583)

The National Audit Office report, “The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Programme: Renewing the secondary school estate” (HC 135 Session 2008-09 12 February 2009) estimated that the average cost to local authorities of establishing a Local Education Partnership to deliver its BSF project was £6.5 million. This includes local authority staff and adviser costs.

The cost of building a school varies greatly depending on the size, location, type of site, facilities included, and the amount of new build and refurbishment in the project. The capital cost of BSF projects is kept under control by the funding arrangements the Department has put in place with Partnerships for Schools. These place the cost of increasing the scope of school projects with the local authorities, where responsibility lies for keeping projects affordable.

The average total capital cost and cost per square metre of completed BSF mainstream schools is:

The capital cost includes preliminaries, overhead and profit, external works, professional fees and surveys, sub and super structure, internal finishes, building fittings and furnishings, services and furniture and equipment. Average cost information has been provided because of the commercial sensitivity of data on individual schools.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families for what reason Dorset county council has not been invited to enter the Building Schools for the Future programme in 2009-10. (322146)

Local authorities are prioritised on the need for Building Schools for the Future (BSF) investment but must also demonstrate that they are ready and able, and have all the elements in place to deliver their BSF project. As well as assessing submissions to enter on a case-by-case basis, bids are also compared against each other so that the most ready and able are selected.

The assessment of Dorset's “Readiness to Deliver” submission concluded that further work is needed in some areas before the authority can be deemed ready to enter BSF. Applications from some authorities were also considered to be stronger than that submitted by Dorset.

Partnerships for Schools will work with the local authority over the coming weeks to address the areas that need further work.