Government admits errors in school-building list

Education Secretary Michael Gove's department acknowledged on Wednesday there was a series of errors in a list of school building projects, many of which face cancellation due to a spending squeeze. Plans to rebuild or refurbish 1,400 schools in England were cut in half on Monday by Gove as he scrapped the ousted Labour government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project.

The list released on Monday contained 25 errors, you stupid little man

The mistakes meant some schools believed their projects were safe when they were destined for the axe. "Gove is going to be writing to the Speaker (John Bercow) to clarify what the errors are," a department spokesman said. The department amended the list of schools affected on its web site.

Bercow told parliament that Gove had not been in touch with him, despite reports he planned to send him a letter of apology. He suggested Gove should come to parliament to make a statement. "If people have got things to say they should come to the House to say them," he said. A Department for Education spokesman said later the department was still considering how to respond to the situation.

Gove said on Monday he was closing the 55 billion pound programme to rebuild all 3,500 state-funded secondary schools in England by 2023 because it was overly bureaucratic and wasteful. Some 715 school rebuilding projects would be scrapped. However, 700 school projects would go ahead where local authorities had completed contracts, or reached "financial close," with contractors, he said.

UPDATE Wednesday, 7 July 2010 22:48
Education Secretary Michael Gove has repeatedly apologised for errors in a list about schools building programmes in England which are being scrapped. In stormy scenes in the Commons, Mr Gove was attacked by Labour MPs who said the 25 errors in the list were "intolerable" and "astonishing". Mr Gove said he understood MPs' "passion" about the issue as Speaker John Bercow tried to calm MPs.