The Cabinet office said the pledge confounds “expectations that construction funding would be slashed.”

The figures will be confirmed later in the autumn, along with further details on exactly where the money will be invested.

The headline figure is still down on pre-spending cut estimates for central Government capital spending.

Maude said: “The Government’s Construction Strategy is reducing costs by up to 20% by reforming the way we procure construction projects across all sectors.

“However, we are still investing billions of pounds annually; with the same money we will procure more schools, hospitals, courts and prisons.

“Despite an incredibly difficult economic climate we are investing in and prioritising our construction industry.

“The Government and the construction industry have a shared obligation to cut waste and find new and better ways of doing business.

“This is especially important when we are talking about creating first class, modern, fully functioning public service delivery buildings like hospitals and schools.”

The Government will publish a full pipeline of projects this autumn to help contractors plan and prepare their investment strategies.

Construction capital spending will be  £8.4bn in 2011/12 then £7.3bn the following year and £6.5bn in 2014/15.

Education will get the biggest slice at £4.6bn followed by highways at £4.3bn including £1.7bn of major projects and £1.3bn in maintenance work.

The Homes and Communities Agency will receive £4.3bn for new build and repair work and health projects will get £2.2bn.

For the latest breakdown of Government spending plans click here