Early bird catches the best advice

4th April 2003, 1:00am

Share

Early bird catches the best advice

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/early-bird-catches-best-advice
FRAN Hollis (TES, March 21) is right in saying that governing bodies involved in a private finance initiative contract need early access to independent advice. It is, therefore, disappointing that the PFI guide for governors issued by the Department for Education and Skills makes no mention of this. The guidance issued by the DfES to local education authorities does, though, refer to the fact that “individual governing bodies may wish to receive legal advice” and makes the point that LEA lawyers “will probably not be able to give independent legal advice to governing bodies in relation to a scheme where they are acting for the authority”. In my opinion, there is a responsibility for LEAs to ensure that governing bodies do take independent advice and for the LEA to meet the cost for doing so.

Governors need to be involved from day one and have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and of the legal structure of the contract, and what they need to do to protect the school’s interests. Once the contract is signed, there is no opportunity to rectify mistakes except at a cost.

The DfES PFI guide greatly over-simplifies the process and a governing body that relies on it risks finding itself sold short.

Richard Gold Stone King, Solicitors 13 Queen Square, Bath

Want to keep reading for free?

Register with Tes and you can read two free articles every month plus you'll have access to our range of award-winning newsletters.

Keep reading for just £1 per month

You've reached your limit of free articles this month. Subscribe for £1 per month for three months and get:

  • Unlimited access to all Tes magazine content
  • Exclusive subscriber-only stories
  • Award-winning email newsletters
Recent
Most read
Most shared