Scottish Futures Trust report £131 million savings achieved

Published on 11/07/2012 12:05

THE body set up by SNP ministers to boots capital spending by government, its agencies and councils in Scotland has claimed that it saved £131 million for the public purse during the past year.

An annual assessment for the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) said that the body had saved £2 million more than it did last year.

The trust claimed that an efficiency drive has cut costs on the school building budget so much that it can afford to construct another 12 schools.

It aims to find ways to avoid the excess profits made from private financing of public sector projects.

The SFT report for 2011-12 said: “Such has been the success of SFT’s focus on high quality sustainable design at a competitive price that within Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme, for example, enough money has been saved to build an additional 12 schools, increasing the total number from 55 to 67.”

Scottish ministers have yet to decide where the extra schools will be built as part of the £1.25 billion schools programme.