Education and Culture Committee

Barry White from the Scottish Futures Trust told the Education Committee it was important to "maximise the benefit of the money that is there" which was why the number of schools to be built or refurbished under Scottish government plans was raised from 55 to 67.

Mr White was giving evidence to the committee as it examined the estate of school buildings in Scotland on 19 June 2012.

He also emphasised the need for "building an accurate picture of what is needed" across the country.

John Fyffe from the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) said new schools could be part of regenerating communities, creating a school and a place for citizens to go.

Scottish Labour MSP Hanzala Malik said he liked the "concept of all singing, all dancing schools" and it was necessary to maximise the rationalisation of facilities.

Between 1999 and March 2011, around 687 schools were built or substantially refurbished in Scotland.

This represents 26% of the current school estate of 2,617 schools.

The school estate has improved since 2005, however in 2011 there were still over 500 schools in poor or bad condition, representing 19% of the school estate.

In June 2009 the Scottish government announced plans to enable local authorities to build or refurbish 55 new schools with a capital value of £1.25bn and the first school was completed in February 2012.

These were detailed in Building Better Schools: Investing in Scotland's Future

In October 2011 this was increased to 67 schools, although the funding was not increased.

The government will provide £800m and local authorities will fund the balance.