Twelve years of scottish school public private partnerships: Are they better value for money?

Abstract

This research evaluates the value-for-money (VFM) obtained from public-private partnership (PPP) schools in Scotland, based on headteachers questionnaires, local authority interviews and Scottish School Estate Statistics. The period covered is 2000-2012, when 395 new schools were commissioned. The PPPs were better in building condition and maintenance standards and conventionally-financed schools were better in terms of teacher access and improvement in staff morale. There was transfer of knowledge whereby the high standards of the PPPs then became the new standards for the conventionally-financed schools. Concerns about PPP VFM relates to the high cost of unitary charges and contract inflexibilities. A higher percentage of headteachers of conventionally-financed schools (63.64%) considered their new schools resulted in good VFM compared to PPP schools (42.86%).