Basically, how much money is the Government putting into the UK school
building programme, at present and projected for the next few years?
How much of this is PFI (Private Finance Initiative) money? Also, how
much is being spent each year on maintenance of schools (i.e -
building and grounds maintenance, catering, security, cleaning etc)?

Documents that might help - the Treasury Spending Review 2002, and a
linked document that was published by the Government in late 2002,
called something like "Investment in the Future" or "Investment and
the future" or "Investment for reform" etc.

websites - www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
and Dept for Education and Schools (DfES) www.dfes.gov.uk

The Department for Education and Skills has a website for teachers
called TeacherNet. You can find this at http://www.teachernet.gov.uk

In the Frequently Asked Questions section of the site, an answer to a
question about the condition of school buildings contains the
following:

“A total of £8.7 billion is allocated for schools buildings over the
Spending Review 2000 period: £2.2 bn in 2001-02, £3.0 bn in 2002-03
and £3.5 bn in 2003-04. This includes Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
credits of £450/£850/£850m over the three years. The £3.0 billion of
capital investment in 2002-03 compares with £683 million in 1996-97.
Details of allocations to 2005-06 arising from the Spending Review
2002 will be announced in due course.”

Link to TeacherNet FAQ:
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/Management/ResourcesFinanceandBuilding/funding/capitalfundingforschoolbuildings/capitalfundingFAQs/

The response also mentions that the money from the programme is for
capital purposes only, and therefore may not be used for maintenance
and general repair. These are met from the general education budget
allocated to Local Eduation Authorities each year. You can view these
figures in the DfES’s Annual Report, here:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/deptreport2002/expandinv/expenditure.shtml

I hope my response fully answered your question. If you feel I have
left points unanswered, or if you have further enquiries, please use
the link to request a clarification of my answer. Thank you for giving
me the opportunity to address your interesting request.

PS Apologies for the FAQ lengthy link above, if it doesn't work use
this:
- http://makeashorterlink.com/?E24A21513

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Clarification of Answer by jumpingjoe-ga on 14 Jan 2003 18:58 PST

Sorry, should have also mentioned that as LEA's allot general funds
individually, and in many cases delegate to the actual schools, the
amount spent on maintenance and repair of school buildings will differ
from school to school with no collation of the resulting information
by local government. Thus, the actual figure spent by schools
nationwide on maintenance and repair is impossible to determine,
without an actual study being commissioned by the DfES. If you think I
might be wrong do please say, and I'll go off searching again!

Hard topic -thanks!