DORSET schools could be affected by the liquidation of construction and services firm Carillion.

Although the county council doesn't have any current contracts with the company, Carillion previously completed three contracts in Wimborne, Lytchett Minster and Weymouth.

As a result, the schools were protected against defects for 12 years.

Carillion received court approval for liquidation on Monday. The company provides a range of services - such as dinners, cleaning and maintenance - to schools around the country.

A spokesperson for Dorset County Council said: "The council does not have any current contracts with Carillion.

"However, we do have three previous schools contracts, including Queen Elizabeth's School in Wimborne, Holy Trinity Primary School in Weymouth, as well as a lesser scale external works project at Lytchett Minster School.

"Due to the nature of the contracts, these schools had protection against latent defects for 12 years which may now be lost with the collapse of Carillion.

"We are concerned with the potential impact this may have on Carillion's supply chain, which might include some of our contracted suppliers. We are in discussion with the managers of the frameworks we use and it is still very much an emerging picture as information becomes available."

Queen Elizabeth's School opened again after a £52.6m programme of refurbishments in 2011.

More than £31million came from the government, topped up by the council’s modernising schools project.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "Our priority is to ensure schools can continue to operate as usual. We have planned extensively for this and have been working with local authorities and academy trusts since before Christmas to make sure contingency plans are in place.

"We are continuing to offer support to schools help minimise disruption for pupils through our designated advice service."

Carillion is more than 200 years old. It has around 43,000 employees worldwide, including 20,000 in the UK.