Schools Funding

763 Mr BOYER (Wright) (27 August 2021). How many schools granted funding under the Building Better Schools program have had some of that initial grant money clawed back by the education department? Please provide name of school, original grant figure and final tendered amount figure?'

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education): I have been advised of the following:

Under the Department for Education's capital works program, contracts are awarded through a competitive tender process following a rigorous evaluation. Savings from any projects that come in under budget are retained by the department to be used as a pool of funding for managing any higher costs that may arise for projects that exceed tender budgets or face particular cost pressures due to unforeseen issues.

This is standard practice for Department for Education capital works programs over many years and is a key component in mitigating risk to the delivery of the overall program of works.

Some building works are in the final stages of documentation completion with final costings being part of that process. A number of other projects are in much earlier stages of development, given that the original announcement was for a six-year program of works.