The use of PFI deals increased significantly under Tony Blair’s Labour government as a way of investing in public buildings without the government borrowing money up front. Under the deals, long-term agreements between the private and public sector were made.
In Stoke, the contract mainly covered maintaining existing school buildings, with a bit of new build. Elsewhere, completely new schools were built under PFI.
In 2018, the Conservative government scrapped the controversial PFI model after growing concerns it did not provide value for public money. But around 570 PFI contracts, including many to maintain and update school and hospital buildings, remained in place. Many are now nearing their end.
Five years ago the National Audit Office (NAO) – which scrutinises value for public money – warned of a risk of schools and hospitals being handed back in a poor condition if the final stage of these maintenance contracts wasn’t properly managed.
As contracts begin to wind down, the NAO said there is a disincentive for the private companies to spend money before they hand over responsibility for maintaining the buildings to public bodies.
In order to avoid this happening the government says “expiry health checks” should be carried out on buildings.
In response to an FOI request, the Cabinet Office confirmed expiry health checks were carried out on Stoke’s PFI schools in March 2021 and March 2024.
Their condition was given the second worst rating, “amber/red”, which means “major additional work” was needed.
The BBC asked the council, Equans and TSSL to comment on its findings.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council said there had been a “large amount of investment to maintain and improve these schools over the last 25 years”, which it claims means they are in a better condition than many schools elsewhere.
The council said recent high inflation had made repairs more expensive, but it would not agree to responsibility for buildings being handed back unless standards set out in the contract were met.
The council said more than half the work by value had been completed, and it was drawing up plans in case not all the work can be finished.
Equans said it has been “committed to ensuring Stoke’s schools have been well-maintained throughout the 25 years of the contract”. It said an average of 28,000 jobs have been completed across the schools every year, with 93% of planned and preventative tasks being completed on time and, for the rest of this year, “a busy schedule of work for the school holidays was planned”.
Some work on the damaged render at St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy is now due to be carried out over Easter, the BBC understands.
Transform Schools (Stoke) Limited said the schools had been maintained “in accordance with the contract”, adding that many of the school buildings were relatively old when it took over responsibility.
It said “all parties are working together to deliver the maintenance works by the contract expiry date”, adding that the schools were involved in the sign-off process and it was unaware of any dispute between the council and the schools and “unaware of widespread issues with quality”.
Additional reporting by Hope Rhodes.
