Helston Community College and Humphry Davy School rebuild bids to be decided in January – George Questions Minister

At Education Questions in the House of Commons, West Cornwall MP, Andrew George, has asked the Minister for Schools, David Laws MP, to confirm the timings surrounding the next phase of the Priority School Building programme.

Mr George’s question and subsequent response from Mr Laws are as follows:

Andrew George (St Ives) (LD):
When he plans to announce the outcome of the next phase of the Priority School Building programme.

Mr Laws:
Our Department is in the process of analysing the expressions of interest for the next phase of the Priority School Building programme, and we expect to announce successful schools in January.

Andrew George:
I draw to my right hon. Friend’s attention the excellent applications from Humphry Davy school and Helston Community College in my constituency. The successful applicants will be anxious to know how quickly they can crack on with their rebuilding projects and by what date they will need to complete them. Will the Minister elaborate on that?

Mr Laws:
My hon. Friend is a great champion of all the schools in his constituency and has been lobbying very hard indeed, as I am well aware, for the two schools that he names. I can assure him that we are processing these bids as rapidly as possible and that we will announce the successful schools in January. That will allow the project to move ahead as soon as possible.

Mr George said, after the Commons exchange: “Both the Helston and Humphry Davy bids are strong. We hope for the best, but we won’t know for sure for a few weeks more. Helston has been waiting for years and is very deserving. The Humphry Davy plans have made a strong impact too, but we can’t count our chickens at this stage.”