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Partnerships for Schools has taken over delivery of all the government’s schools capital programmes, confirming an announcement made by schools minister Vernon Coaker in June.

The move, which took effect from the end of last week, means that Partnerships for Schools (PfS) will be responsible for programmes totalling £21.6bn of spend in the current spending review period, which runs until 2011.

On top of the ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø Schools for the Future programme it was already managing, PfS remit will now include the Primary Capital programme, worth £7bn overall and £1.9bn in the current CSR period, devolved capital programmes worth £7.8bn in the current CSR, and targeted capital programmes on areas like carbon reduction and school kitchens, worth £2.6bn in this CSR.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families will retain a central capital unit providing policy advice to ministers, but the running of the programmes themselves will be the responsibility of PFS.

Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, said: “Our new and expanded role is in recognition of our track record as an effective delivery organisation. Earlier this year, the National Audit Office, the all-party Public Accounts Committee and the CBI acknowledged the strengths of PfS’s central management and leadership of BSF and we look forward to applying the same approach to the wider family of capital programmes that seek to improve the life chances of all young people.