Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the total cost to the public purse of (a) repairing, (b) refurbishing and (c) rebuilding school buildings in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department to support a high-quality education for all children. The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme is transforming poor condition buildings at over 500 schools.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools, such as academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools based on local knowledge of their estates. They decide how to use annual funding provided, or when to apply to central programmes. Where there are serious issues with buildings that cannot be managed independently, the department provides additional support on a case-by-case basis.
This government introduced the Condition Data Collection (CDC), the first ever comprehensive survey of the school estate and one of the largest data collection programmes of its kind in Europe. The department’s evidence-led approach, following the James Review of Capital in 2011, has enabled the department to use consistent data on the condition of the school estate to inform capital allocations and funding policy. This means that the department targets more funding to where it is needed most, with schools in relatively poorer condition attracting more funding for their responsible body.
Almost all government funded schools in England were visited as part of the Condition Data Collection 1 (CDC1) programme between 2017 and 2019. Surveyors and engineers assessed the condition of multiple components of the schools' buildings and land within twelve primary building elements using an A-D rating. Key findings, including regional breakdowns, from the CDC1 can be found in the report, ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey – Key Findings’, which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60af7cbbe90e071b54214c82/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Significant capital investment has been provided since the CDC1 was carried out, and Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) is now in progress to provide updated information and will be completed by 2026. Early indications from the CDC2 data collection to date, and feedback from responsible bodies, showed that in almost every case where a D grade component was identified in the CDC1 report, it has since been addressed.
The list of schools that have been awarded a place on the School Rebuilding Programme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Funding for capital programmes up to the 2024/25 financial year comes from the department’s overall £19 billion capital budget set at the 2021 Spending Review. Capital budgets beyond 2024/25 will be determined through a Spending Review, in the normal way.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the total cost to the public purse of (a) repairing, (b) refurbishing and (c) rebuilding school buildings in the East.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department to support a high-quality education for all children. The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme is transforming poor condition buildings at over 500 schools.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools, such as academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools based on local knowledge of their estates. They decide how to use annual funding provided, or when to apply to central programmes. Where there are serious issues with buildings that cannot be managed independently, the department provides additional support on a case-by-case basis.
This government introduced the Condition Data Collection (CDC), the first ever comprehensive survey of the school estate and one of the largest data collection programmes of its kind in Europe. The department’s evidence-led approach, following the James Review of Capital in 2011, has enabled the department to use consistent data on the condition of the school estate to inform capital allocations and funding policy. This means that the department targets more funding to where it is needed most, with schools in relatively poorer condition attracting more funding for their responsible body.
Almost all government funded schools in England were visited as part of the Condition Data Collection 1 (CDC1) programme between 2017 and 2019. Surveyors and engineers assessed the condition of multiple components of the schools' buildings and land within twelve primary building elements using an A-D rating. Key findings, including regional breakdowns, from the CDC1 can be found in the report, ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey – Key Findings’, which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60af7cbbe90e071b54214c82/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Significant capital investment has been provided since the CDC1 was carried out, and Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) is now in progress to provide updated information and will be completed by 2026. Early indications from the CDC2 data collection to date, and feedback from responsible bodies, showed that in almost every case where a D grade component was identified in the CDC1 report, it has since been addressed.
The list of schools that have been awarded a place on the School Rebuilding Programme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Funding for capital programmes up to the 2024/25 financial year comes from the department’s overall £19 billion capital budget set at the 2021 Spending Review. Capital budgets beyond 2024/25 will be determined through a Spending Review, in the normal way.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of schools with (a) Laingspan and (b) Integrid system builds.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The department has prioritised Laingspan and Intergrid for replacement and included all identified school buildings of these types that are still in service in the School Rebuilding Programme.
The department is aware of 7 schools with Laingspan buildings and 18 schools with Intergrid buildings. Of these 24 schools (1 school has both a Laingspan and an Integrid block), 23 have been included in the School Rebuilding Programme. The remaining school was not included in the School Rebuilding Programme as the academy trust was taking its Intergrid block out of use.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the funding required to maintain the school estate.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department in order to ensure that they support a high-quality education for all children. The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in 2023/24. In addition, the school rebuilding programme is transforming poor condition buildings at over 500 schools.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools, such as academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools based on local knowledge of their estates. They decide how to use annual funding provided, or when to apply to central programmes. Where there are serious issues with buildings that cannot be managed independently the department provides additional support on a case by case basis.
This government introduced the Condition Data Collection (CDC), the first ever comprehensive survey of the school estate and one of the largest data collection programmes of its kind in Europe. Thanks to our evidence led approach, following the James Review of Capital in 2011, this government has been able to allocate capital funding based on consistent data on condition need. Almost all government funded schools in England were visited as part of the CDC programme between 2017 and 2019. Key findings from the CDC programme can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60af7cbbe90e071b54214c82/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
This reported a total modelled remediation cost of £11.4 billion to repair or replace building components rated less than good (Grade A), which included elements which were rated as satisfactory.
Significant capital investment has been provided since the CDC was carried out. Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) started in 2021 and will complete in 2026. It will provide the department with an improved and up to date evidence base on building condition to inform future capital policy and programmes. Early indications from our CDC2 data collection to date, and feedback from responsible bodies, showed that in almost every case where a D grade component was identified in the CDC1 report, it has since been addressed.
Funding for capital programmes up to 2024/25 comes from the department’s overall £19 billion capital budget set at the 2021 Spending Review. Capital budgets beyond 2024/25 will be determined through a Spending Review, in the normal way.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the total cost to the public purse of (a) repairing, (b) refurbishing and (c) rebuilding school buildings in the East Midlands.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department to support a high-quality education for all children. The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme is transforming poor condition buildings at over 500 schools.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools, such as academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools based on local knowledge of their estates. They decide how to use annual funding provided, or when to apply to central programmes. Where there are serious issues with buildings that cannot be managed independently, the department provides additional support on a case-by-case basis.
This government introduced the Condition Data Collection (CDC), the first ever comprehensive survey of the school estate and one of the largest data collection programmes of its kind in Europe. The department’s evidence-led approach, following the James Review of Capital in 2011, has enabled the department to use consistent data on the condition of the school estate to inform capital allocations and funding policy. This means that the department targets more funding to where it is needed most, with schools in relatively poorer condition attracting more funding for their responsible body.
Almost all government funded schools in England were visited as part of the Condition Data Collection 1 (CDC1) programme between 2017 and 2019. Surveyors and engineers assessed the condition of multiple components of the schools' buildings and land within twelve primary building elements using an A-D rating. Key findings, including regional breakdowns, from the CDC1 can be found in the report, ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey – Key Findings’, which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60af7cbbe90e071b54214c82/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Significant capital investment has been provided since the CDC1 was carried out, and Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) is now in progress to provide updated information and will be completed by 2026. Early indications from the CDC2 data collection to date, and feedback from responsible bodies, showed that in almost every case where a D grade component was identified in the CDC1 report, it has since been addressed.
The list of schools that have been awarded a place on the School Rebuilding Programme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Funding for capital programmes up to the 2024/25 financial year comes from the department’s overall £19 billion capital budget set at the 2021 Spending Review. Capital budgets beyond 2024/25 will be determined through a Spending Review, in the normal way.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 17 of the NAO report on the Condition of school buildings, HC 1516, published on 28 June 2023, what estimate she has made of the number of children studying in schools where the responsible body or her Department believes that major repair works are required in each of the next five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds
It is the responsibility of those who run schools, such as academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools based on local knowledge of their estates. They decide how to use annual funding provided, or when to apply to central programmes. The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 to support responsible bodies and schools, including £1.8 billion in 2023/24. Where there are serious issues with buildings that cannot be managed independently, the department provides additional support on a case-by-case basis.
Consequently, the department does not hold an estimate of pupil numbers in schools that may need major works over the next five years, nor similar data from responsible bodies.
This government introduced the Condition Data Collection (CDC), the first ever comprehensive survey of the school estate and one of the largest data collection programmes of its kind in Europe. A successor programme, CDC2, is underway and will be complete by 2026. Thanks to its evidence led approach, following the James Review of Capital in 2011, this government has been able to allocate capital funding based on consistent data on condition need.
The National Audit Office, in their report on school buildings in June 2023, provided an estimated number of pupils that were in ‘a school that the responsible body or the Department for Education believes needs major rebuilding or refurbishment’. The figure is often misinterpreted as it is based on the total number of pupils in schools nominated to the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in 2022 by responsible bodies, and includes schools that were already selected to be rebuilt in the SRP. Nominations to SRP give an indication of refurbishment need, but as responsible bodies are self-nominated, this is subjective. The figure is also for all pupils in these schools, whereas buildings in poor condition are often only a part of each estate.
Unlike programmes prior to 2010, the SRP and the Priority School Building Programme have been prioritised on condition need. The department robustly evaluated the nominations to the SRP and selected schools with the greatest need. This included all schools with evidence of exceptional need, such as structural issues, verified by the department against the programme criteria.
The SRP now has over 500 projects. The methodology for prioritising schools and all schools included in the programme are published on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
More broadly, the CDC2 survey is already demonstrating the government’s evidence led approach is working. Early indications from the CDC2 data collection to date, and feedback from responsible bodies, shows that in almost every case where a D grade component was identified in the CDC1 report, it has since been addressed.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether all contracts for phase 2 of the Priority School Building Programme have now been awarded.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Contracts have been awarded for 271 out of 272 schools in phase two of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP2).
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2023 to Question 22 on Schools: Asbestos, what information her Department holds on levels of asbestos in schools in the North East region.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department to support a high-quality education for all children. The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme is transforming poor condition buildings at over 500 schools.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools, such as academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies, to manage the safety and maintenance of their buildings.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates schools’ compliance with legislation to manage their asbestos safely. The department follows the HSE’s advice that, provided asbestos containing materials are in good condition, and unlikely to be disturbed, it is generally safest to manage them in place. Where asbestos containing materials are likely to be disturbed by maintenance works or daily use of the building, and cannot be easily protected, schools should have them removed.
The Asbestos Management Assurance Process (AMAP) was a survey launched by the department in March 2018 to understand the steps schools and those responsible for their estate were taking to manage asbestos. The data collected from this survey was published in 2019, and is accessible at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f28153ed3bf7f1b17facda7/AMAP_Report_2019.pdf.
Information on how schools are managing asbestos is now being collected via the department’s Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) programme, which will complete in 2026, and is expected to cover all state-funded schools.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to make an assessment of the appropriateness of allocating maintenance funding directly to smaller responsible bodies.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. The department also provide extensive guidance on effective management of school buildings, including through Good Estates Management for Schools.
Local authorities, larger multi-academy trusts (MATs) and larger voluntary-aided (VA) school bodies receive an annual school condition allocation (SCA) to invest in priorities across the schools for which they are responsible. Smaller academy trusts and single academy trusts, smaller VA bodies and sixth-form colleges are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).
To be eligible to receive direct SCA for the 2023/24 financial year, MATs and VA bodies must have met two principal criteria. The MAT or VA body must have had 5 or more open schools at the start of September 2022, and those open schools (or their predecessor schools) must have had at least 3,000 pupils counted in the spring 2022 census, or the 2021 to 2022 individualised learner record.
School level allocations for both SCA and CIF eligible schools are calculated using the same formula, to ensure parity. Whilst the allocations for schools in SCA eligible responsible bodies are totalled to form a direct allocation for the responsible body, the allocations for CIF eligible schools and sixth form colleges are combined to form the CIF fund, into which they can bid. This is to ensure that schools and sixth form colleges in smaller responsible bodies, which are CIF eligible, have the opportunity to access sufficient funding to complete projects to improve condition.
Were CIF eligible responsible bodies given direct allocations, they would, in most cases, attract substantially less funding than SCA eligible responsible bodies, as the allocation formula is based on pupil numbers. As a result, direct allocations might not be sufficient for these responsible bodies to complete the projects they require, which is why they are instead given access to CIF.
The department keeps the methodology for allocating condition funding under review.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment the Department has made of the effectiveness of the Capital Advisers’ Programme.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The department is committed to supporting trusts to increase their estate management capability and practice. The Capital Advisers Programme is designed to help academy trusts increase their estate management capability and improve practice, by offering bespoke best practice recommendations from capital advisers, in line with the Good Estate Management for Schools guidance. The programme has completed delivery of 3 phases: pilot (2021/2022), pilot revisits (2022) and part 1 (2022/2023). Part 2 is currently in delivery.
The department assesses the benefit of the programme after each phase and publishes these evaluations. The evaluation reports are available to view in the links below:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1086666/CAP_Pilot_Evaluation_Report_30June22.pdf, and https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65536ce7019bd600149f1ff9/Capital_Advisers_Programme_revisits_and_part_1_evaluation.pdf.