Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information he holds on the use of Project Bank Accounts by (a) his Department, (b) Government agencies his Department has responsibility for and (c) non-departmental bodies his Department has responsibility for.

As set out in the Construction Playbook, the Department for Education (DfE) has committed to use Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) on its school construction projects unless there are compelling reasons not to. PBAs are just one way that government departments support fair payment as part of the Government’s Prompt Payment Code.

DfE has considered the use of PBAs for school construction projects delivered through the DfE Construction Frameworks. However due to the specific nature, size and volume of DfE’s school construction projects, the DfE has assessed that it is not practical, efficient and cost effective to use them on our construction projects. Therefore, there are compelling reasons not to deploy PBAs on DfE projects. Accordingly, the DfE does not hold any information on the use of PBAs for its school construction projects as the DfE does not currently use PBAs.