A war of words has erupted over Fife’s PFI schools after a MP demanded more transparency about the deals in light of Edinburgh’s experience.
Dunfermline and West Fife MP Douglas Chapman has called for the local authority to put all the details into the public domain after 17 schools on the other side of the Forth were closed due to building defects.
Fife’s 12 schools have since been inspected and further investigations have been ordered, although no flaws have been uncovered.
But despite Mr Chapman’s comments, independent councillor Bryan Poole, Fife’s education spokesperson, hit back, branding the MP’s interjection as “infantile” and accusing him of playing party politics.
Mr Chapman said: “Clearly I am reassured that all 12 PFI schools in Fife have been given a structural clean bill of health and that we will not have any structural issues with these schools in the future.
“However, Fife Council has yet to tell us the cost of the structural surveys that have had to be carried out or where any tax-paying citizen can find the details of these structural surveys.
“It has also to tell us whether the PFI contract holder paid for these surveys in full or whether the council made any contribution to have these surveys carried out.
“What the whole Edinburgh schools debacle has shown us is that Labour’s PFI is not a great model on which to build schools, hospitals or other important public buildings and we know very little about those companies who operate those PFI contracts on the public’s behalf.”
However, Mr Poole said Mr Chapman was obviously more interested in “petty political point scoring”, adding that any member of the public can ask the council for a breakdown of school funding schemes.
“Douglas dismisses with some disdain ‘the 12 PFI schools in Fife’ and almost sounds disappointed that, to use his words, ‘they have been given a clean bill of health’,” he noted.
“When Douglas was chair of education at Fife Council he was responsible for the commissioning of three schools at a cost of approximately £90 million to the Fife taxpayers.
“I’m pretty sure most people, even Douglas Chapman, would agree that 12 schools for £103 million is not a bad deal in comparison with three schools for £90 million.
“Personally I’m very pleased that around 10,000 pupils in Fife are being educated in buildings and have facilities that are amongst the best in Scotland.”
Mr Poole went on to say that Mr Chapman should use his position to push for further investment in Scotland’s education system, adding: “If he spent more time doing that instead of writing, frankly infantile press statements then he would be making a real contribution to the education of Fife’s children.”
The exchange comes after the EIS union said it was still awaiting detailed information about the safety checks and surveys carried out.
David Farmer, from Fife EIS, said: “We want to feel completely confident that issues of school building safety are being addressed.
“We would have to observe that the forum within education where management and trade-unions discuss health and safety matters has not met for many months.
“Trade unions were informed there was to be a re-configuration of that forum. When we re-start meetings to discuss health and safety issues specific to education, we know not.”
