Almost half of the local education authorities in England are now involved in public private partnerships to improve school buildings.
Schools minister Stephen Timms said that 72 local authorities have had a total of 80 projects approved under the Public Finance Initiative, the scheme under which private companies pay up-front for capital work in return for an annual fee from the public sector.
This includes 36 projects which have already been signed, the biggest of which is a pound;300 million scheme in Liverpool.
Mr Timms was responding to a question by Liberal Democrat education spokesman Phil Willis.
Answering a separate question from Mr Willis, Mr Timms said that the deadline for the next round of PFI bids is December 17. Successful projects will be announced in March next year.
