Hundreds rally over cuts to school building programme

This is in addition to the estimated £100m which construction companies say they have spent on cancelled bids.

Mr Gove said there would be a new programme to allow dilapidated schools and those in disadvantaged areas to receive “the money they deserve” but it would take time to get it set up.

Led by the NASUWT teachers’ union, head teachers, school support staff, governors and councillors were among those who gathered for the protest at the Houses of Parliament.

Five other unions – the NUT, Association of Teachers and Lecturers, GMB, Unison and Unite – also took part.

The leader of the NUT, Christine Blower, said: “Cutting the budget to rebuild schools is a huge blow to those that have been promised the sort of facilities you would expect in a modern school.”

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said the lobby and rally had captured the public mood of deep concern about the programme of cuts.

“Here we have a government which has axed, with breathtaking speed and no consultation, hundreds of school building projects, put thousands of construction workers on the dole, denied hundreds of unemployed young people apprenticeship opportunities and has not even been able to produce an accurate list of which schools are affected.”

She said run-down and dilapidated school buildings were not being replaced while others in good repair were getting brand new buildings because they were becoming academies.

A Department for Education spokesman said it was not stopping school building.

It was simply going to replace the “wasteful and costly BSF” programme with a more realistic and efficient alternative.

It said it was reviewing capital spending in a way that would target schools in the greatest need.

Meanwhile, construction firm Glenigan has released a report on BSF, which claims education projects make up almost a fifth of all construction projects started in the past 18 months.