JANE Hutt, finance and government business minister has announced £500 million of innovative new investment for the next phase of the 21st Century Schools Programme starting 2019.

The Programme is designed to deliver the Welsh Government’s vision of providing a first class education in world class settings to all learners in Wales.

The investment would be made using the Non-profit Distributing (NPD) investment model.

This new investment in the 21st Century Schools Programme is in addition to the £170m of innovative funding through the Local Government Borrowing Initiative, which is already accelerating the delivery of Band A of the Programme by two years.

The next phase of the 21st Century Schools Programme, Band B, will begin following the completion of Band A in 2018-19.