Michael Gove has launched a £2bn PFI funding scheme for school buildings, but vowed not to restore Building for School (BSF) projects axed last year.

Promising to settle the costs of the six local authorities that brought an unsuccessful judicial review, he said they remain eligible to apply for the building programme addressing schools in the worst condition throughout England. Expected to cover between 100 and 300 schools, the first schemes the £2bn programme delivers could open in September 2014.