A new UK Government took office on 11 May 2010. As a result the content on this site may not reflect current Government policy.
All statutory guidance and legislation published on this site continues to reflect the current legal position unless indicated otherwise.
To view the new Department for Education website, please go to http://www.education.gov.uk

The role of Partnerships for Schools

Pupils in a newly built school buildingDelivering 21st century schools that are designed to help every young person achieve their potential

Partnerships for Schools (PfS) was established in 2004 by the DfE (previously DfES/DCSF) as both a company and an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB).

PfS was financed through a Joint Venture between Partnerships UK (PUK) and DfE until 31 March 2009 to deliver Building Schools for the Future (BSF), the schools capital investment programme.

In March 2006, PfS also took on responsibility for delivering the Academies programme. In 2009, PfS took on responsibility for delivering all schools capital investment programmes.

This change represents a broader move across government that will see departments assume a more strategic function and devolve more delivery issues to agency bodies, helping achieve greater efficiency in the delivery of public sector programmes.

The key role for PfS is to ensure that investment in schools represents good value for money and strongly supports the Government's ambitions to reduce the deficit, raise standards and tackle disadvantage.

PfS is incorporated as a limited company under the Companies Act 1985 and the shares are wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Education.

Partnerships for Schools Limited is registered in England, Company Number 4650964, registered office: 33 Greycoat Street, London SW1P 2QF.

You can find out more about PfS's senior staff remuneration here.

You can find out more about PfS's junior staff remuneration here.

See the DfE website for disclosure of PfS posts and salary information.

Strategic Aims and Objectives

The Secretary of State has defined the overall aims for PfS as follows:

You can read our Remit Letter for 2011-2012 here.

You can read our Business Plan here.

Performance Management

The Department for Education (DfE) determines PfS's performance framework in the light of wider departmental and cross-government strategic aims and Public Service Agreement (PSA).

The objectives, key performance indicators and targets of PfS are agreed within the annual corporate and business planning process. PfS produces monthly reports to the DfE Sponsor Team and the PfS Board on the performance of its functions described in the Business Plan. The annual reports and accounts, including a performance report against targets, are audited by external auditors.