2. The quality and cost of new school buildings and services

Most school users were pleased to have a brand new school however it was financed, but were less happy with some specific aspects of their buildings. The quality of the early PFI schools in our sample was, statistically speaking, not as good as schools built via more traditional means. Some of the problems were not so much due to PFI, but reflected the need to build and run schools better no matter how they were procured. The capital cost and the amount set aside to spend in future years for maintenance varied widely between schools.