CONTRACTED-OUT SCHOOL SERVICES

Early day motion 251, tabled 11 December 2008 by Ken Purchase (Labour). Signed by 28 members.

That this House is alarmed that schools included in the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme are required to sign up to long-term provision by private contractors of key school functions such as ICT services without being informed of the terms and conditions of such services; fears that many schools would be forced to abandon otherwise excellent service arrangements; believes this open-ended commitment is being demanded by companies who wish to enrich themselves beyond the necessary construction contracts required to rebuild schools; regrets that the Government is not resisting these add-on money-making schemes; and calls on school governing bodies to demand detailed costs and plans of any contracted-out services in order to make decisions related to the much-needed BSF programmes which are fair to schools, ratepayers and taxpayers.

Signatures by party: Labour 19, Liberal Democrat 7, Independent 2.