THE GOVERNMENT'S standards watchdog has questioned whether the Private Finance Initiative scheme funding £60 million worth of new schools in North Swindon works.

According to the Audit Commission, some schools built using PFI money have turned out significantly worse than those built by local authorities themselves.

The PFI system is a scheme whereby private contractors build and manage the running of buildings and then lease them back to councils over a period of 25 years.

As well as schools in North Swindon, the rebuilding of Wootton Bassett School is part of a £40 million PFI project which also involves the building of schools in Malmesbury and Chippenham.

An Audit Commission report says the first schools built under PFI were of lower quality than other new schools built in England and Wales.

And it says they weren't delivered any quicker than schools funded in the traditional way.

However, the Government claims the examples quoted in the Audit Commission report are out of date and that it has learned the lessons of the past.

There are currently plans to build 500 schools using PFI money at a total cost of £2.4bn.

This includes the planned replacement of Hreod Parkway School in north Swindon with a learning campus.

It will include a new secondary school, primary school, two special schools and extra community and sports facilities.

The PFI project also includes two other primary schools elsewhere in the north of the town.

Swindon Council lead cabinet member for education Jim D'Avila (Lab, Moreden) said: "We never would have got the authority from the Government to have borrowed the money to build these schools without the PFI.

"The advantage of it is that the maintenance of the buildings no longer lies with the council.

"For some councils the buildings are so dilapidated that the LEAs spend more energy maintaining the buildings than they do educating the children.

"This is money that Swindon never would have got if the PFI scheme had not been available."