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Independent Report: BER Program Delivers Value for Money in QLD

The State Government's delivery of the Federal Government's Building the Education Revolution (BER) school infrastructure program is achieving value for money in State Schools according to an independent review.

Education and Training Minister Geoff Wilson said PricewaterhouseCoopers had been commissioned to examine the BER program at various stages of implementation in Queensland.

"This is a large program that will deliver close to $2.1 billion across approximately 5,000 infrastructure projects in more than 1,200 Queensland state schools," Mr Wilson said.

"I asked PricewaterhouseCoopers to examine our Government's implementation of the Federal Government's BER program and investigate any complaints that value for money was not being achieved.

"The report highlighted that:

• Overall the program is delivering value for money
• The program is creating and maintaining employment in the construction industry
• The program Is providing students and communities with modern education facilities

"I am also pleased to say that some projects are being delivered up to 16 months ahead of schedule."

Mr Wilson said the PWC review also found that the majority of schools and parents and citizens associations were satisfied with the government's management of the program.

"As part of their review, PWC surveyed 135 Queensland state schools and found on the whole that schools and their P&Cs were satisfied with the program," Mr Wilson said.

"PWC also conducted a detailed assessment of BER projects at 25 sample schools and found there were no systemic problems.

"The report also looked in detail at 12 individual complaints received from concerned community members.

"Ten complaints were resolved with two subject to further investigation."

Mr Wilson said the Bligh Government was committed to achieving value for money.

"It was our objective at the start of this process to stretch every dollar as far as we could in every school.

"That is why we have welcomed concerns and complaints raised by principals and school communities during the program's implementation."

Mr Wilson said PWC was also asked to provide advice on the findings of the review and suggest improvements where necessary as part of the review.

"I acknowledge there is always room for improvement in how we deliver a program of this size and scope," Mr Wilson said.

"PWC has recommended that the department improve its complaint handling processes for BER.

"The review also suggested the department could make better use of the skills of principals who had already overseen successful BER projects in their schools to mentor other principals and school leaders.

"The Department of Education and Training will be taking action to improve processes in these areas."

Mr Wilson said this review provided an important update on an earlier independent review carried out in September 2009 by PwC into BER processes and implementation systems and found the systems would deliver value for money and best practice design standards.

PWC will deliver a third report in the near future looking at the implementation of the BER program in State Schools compared with non-state schools and also the use of BER funding in schools under sustainability review.

www.education.qld.gov.au/infrastructure/strategy/ber/

Media contact: 3237 1000 or 0419 025 326
2 July, 2010