Schools Project Management Costs Soar
Brian has challenged the basis of a 110% increase in managing the joint ‘Schools for the future’ project planned by Poole and Bournemouth councils. Leading Conservative councillors have tried to blame the government and the 4Ps advisory partnership for their planned increase in costs. They have not given a satisfactory explanation for a budget of £125,000 for PR on this one project or a total of £3.2 million in consultants fees.
The Daily Echo commented: ”
SCHOOLS’ £3M BILL SHOCK
6:25am Friday 24th October 2008
By James Morton »
A STAGGERING £3.2 million will be spent on consultants as part of Poole and Bournemouth’s contribution to plans to improve the conurbation’s schools.
The figure equates to more than half the local authorities’ joint budget for managing the Building Schools for the Future scheme, which has already ballooned from initial estimates of £3m to £6.3m.
It means Poole and Bournemouth councils are likely to have to dip into the public purse to the tune of an extra £1.65m each – to the possible detriment of other services.
Barry Watts, programme director for Building Schools for the Future in Poole and Bournemouth, said he believed the prize of improved schools justified the costs.
He said: “We place enormous importance in this investment, which aims to transform the lives of our young people today and for generations to come.”
The spending on consultants is down to the relatively small size of Poole and Bournemouth councils, who have fewer in-house experts, added Mr Watts.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said a project to improve access to education had become “a black hole for public money”.
He said: “Such a large overspend is shocking enough, but the fact that the entire original budget has been hoovered up by consultants is a disgrace.”
The programme’s draft budget details a £3.2m spend on “external support services”.
Roles specified under the heading include “technical adviser” and “client design adviser”.
The original BSF budget of £3m was prepared in 2007 and was an estimate of the commitment needed to get the project off the ground.
It has been adjusted in light of the experience of other local authorities and greater demands from central government.
Poole Liberal Democrat councillor Brian Clements said the authorities needed to “get a grip” on the BSF expenditure.
He said: “This money (the £6.3m budget) doesn’t even lay a brick.”
Poole and Bournemouth’s £6.3m joint budget for the BSF scheme relates only to the authorities’ project management costs.
The two boroughs joined forces to try to secure £120m of government funding for the improvements.
In a report, Poole and Bournemouth’s BSF chief finance officer Liz Wilkinson said the programme represented “significant financial risk” to both councils and demanded “strong financial management and control” to contain costs. “
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