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Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Beith MPLiberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Berwick Upon TweedWorking for you and the Berwick upon Tweed Constituency all year roundin Northumberland and in Westminster |
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Beith raises issue of Alnwick school buildings in Commons debate
February 16, 2011 1:55 PM
Sir Alan Beith, Liberal Democrat MP for Berwick upon Tweed, has taken the opportunity of a House of Commons debate to remind the Secretary of State about the urgent need for funds for new school buildings in Alnwick.
Speaking in the debate, Sir Alan asked the Secretary of State if he would "keep in mind the claims of those schools that were excluded from the Building Schools for the Future programme and might be in more urgent need of repair than those that were included, such as the Duchess's community high school in Alnwick?"
The Secretary of State, Michael Gove, who visited the Duchess's School in December, replied
"One of the weaknesses of the way in which Building Schools for the Future was designed was that it did not prioritise schools on the basis of dilapidation; they were prioritised according to other, political criteria. There are of course schools in Building Schools for the Future areas which are in desperate need of renovation, but there are also schools outside those areas, such as the Duchess's school in Alnwick, which are in a similarly dilapidated state-a consequence of the failure to invest money efficiently over the past 13 years."
Following the debate Sir Alan added
"I wanted to underline to Michael Gove, who I know agrees with this, that there were schools which were denied rebuilding under Building Schools for the Future, and the Duchess's Community High School is a prime example."
Under the BSF criteria, which were based on deprivation and poor results, no schools in Northumberland qualified for rebuilding.