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The Scottish Government is to announce its new Schools Estate Strategy today. It means funding for 14 new secondary schools across the country. The Scottish Futures Trust will be taking forward that part of the programme.

Jenny Stewart, head of public sector for KPMG in Scotland, commented:

"The school estate is desperately in need of upgrading.  These new schools are very welcome - still a lot of work to be done to make them happen.  The Scottish Government's capital budget is going to be extremely tight over the next few years with plenty of other projects already earmarked for public funding - the adult and children's hospitals at the Southern General in Glasgow and the new Forth Replacement Crossing just two examples.  So these new secondary schools will need to have some form of external funding.  A successful programme will need the SFT and the authorities chosen to work together quickly to get these schemes into procurement.

These new schools may indeed lead to better results and better motivation. The KPMG Infrastructure Spotlight Reports for both 2008 and 2009 showed that students' attainment improved in new schools - but by almost twice as much in PPP schools than in conventionally procured schools.  Truancy rates also reduced in PPP schools, but actually increased in conventionally procured schools.  There may be a whole range of factors at play here, but the figures for both students' attainment and on unauthorised absences are statistically significant and therefore worth debating."