2.6 In 2003, the Department announced BSF spending would start in 2005-06.3 Even if Local Authorities agreed plans within a year and procurement was as quick as the quickest PFI deal (18 months), Local Authorities would have had to start straightaway. In 2003, the Department invited six Local Authorities to be pathfinders and explore the parameters of the programme and how the schools could be delivered. The Department was not in a position to know how long each project would take or how many projects it could afford to fund at a time, until the pathfinders reported on their experience and the Department was able to commission PfS to model the programme parameters in mid 2004. Only then was the Department in a position to tell Local Authorities how much money was available.
2.7 The Department had hoped to set up PfS in September 2003. Legal and procurement matters, however, led to six months delay and it was established in March 2004. The Department, working with PUK, put key staff into PfS immediately, allowing it to start some essential planning straightaway. PfS and the Department developed and consulted on detailed guidance, standardised documentation for LEP contracts and tendering material in 2004, publishing them in March 2005. There was difficulty in appointing a permanent Chief Executive, however, and a secondee from PUK was appointed on a temporary basis in October 2004. Recruitment of the majority of the other staff was achieved by March 2005.
2.8 Waves 1 to 3 became pilots. The six pathfinder Local Authorities provided their first plans to the Department in mid 2004 and only started procurement in late 2004. But to avoid further delay to BSF, the Department brought forward waves 1 to 3 to start in 2005. These Local Authorities were not fully able to learn lessons from the pathfinders that might have speeded up their delivery and improved their procurement process.
2.9 The Department took steps to manage the under- spent BSF funding by re-allocating it to One School Pathfinders and targeted funding (Figure 5). One School Pathfinders are projects to renew the neediest school in the 25 Local Authorities that are expected to be the last to join BSF, but without BSF's emphasis on strategic planning or support from PfS. They are a response to local concerns about particular schools with an urgent need for renewal.
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3 Building schools for the future: Consultation on a new approach to capital investment, Department for Education and Skills, 2003.