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 - Minister of State (Education)
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 - Minister of State (Education)
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.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support smaller responsible bodies to apply for the Condition Improvement Fund where they have schools in need of repair works.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
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.
The department publishes detailed guidelines in the Information for Applicants document on GOV.UK each round to support school leaders, staff, and governing bodies at those academies, sixth form colleges and voluntary aided schools eligible to apply for the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).
This includes tips on how to prepare a good CIF application and advice about the types of evidence applicants should provide to support a bid for different types of building projects, along with an application checklist. This includes information about the services that responsible bodies can seek from technical advisory companies. For CIF 2024/25, the department also produced a recorded overview made available to all applicants before they completed their bids.
Prior to the 2024/25 round opening to applicants, the CIF team invited sessions with eligible responsible bodies who had either made no recent applications or had been repeatedly unsuccessful with bids. We plan to offer further meetings to additional CIF eligible trusts and providers following the outcome of the 2024/25 round this spring.
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 has made an assessment of the potential impact of school building conditions on trends in the level of teacher (a) recruitment and (b) retention.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
There are now record numbers of full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, totalling over 468,000, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010.
The department appreciates that there is more to do, particularly in disadvantaged areas. The department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department will be doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax.
This is on top of the 6.5% pay award that teachers and leaders in maintained schools received for 2023/24, which was the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years, delivered on our manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country. This, combined with the increase in the LUP, means a new maths teacher in Blackpool could be receiving the equivalent of £38,570 starting salary next year, before accounting for the 2024/25 pay award.
To further support recruitment to high-priority subjects, the department also provides financial incentives worth up to £196 million, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to teach mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.
To help retention, the department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices. The department has convened a workload reduction taskforce to explore how it can further support trust and school leaders to minimise workload for teachers.
Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department. Responsibility for keeping buildings safe and well-maintained lies with schools and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided bodies. The department supports them by providing capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes and offering guidance and support.
The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 to keep schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in 2023/24. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. The department’s School Rebuilding Programme will transform buildings in poor condition at over 500 schools. New buildings are already being delivered across the country with modern designs that are designed to be net zero carbon in operation.
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 has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring schools to report to her Department when they have to close temporarily due to building issues.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Academy trusts, local authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies are responsible for collecting and recording information about their buildings and ensuring they are safe, well-maintained and comply with relevant regulations. The department supports schools and colleges on how this should be done in the Good Estate Management for Schools guidance which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools.
When the department is made aware of a significant issue with a building that cannot be managed locally, additional support is provided on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many contracts have been awarded via the school rebuilding programme; and if she will make a comparative estimate of this figure with her Department's planned projections.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The School Rebuilding Programme was announced in 2020 and will transform buildings at 500 schools and sixth-form colleges over the next decade. It will rebuild or refurbish poor condition buildings, providing modern designs, with new buildings being net zero carbon in operation.
The department has selected 513 schools for the programme to date, and is on track to commence delivery of these schools at a rate of 50 per year. Several rebuilding projects have already completed under the programme, with many more at various stages of delivery. The department remains committed to rebuilding or refurbishing schools already selected for the School Rebuilding Programme.
The department has awarded 50 contracts. This is in line with the forecast. Details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) pupils and (b) schools that have been unable to take part in national tests due to disruption caused by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the last 12 months.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Thanks to the hard work of school and college leaders, all schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC are providing full time face-to-face education for all pupils. The department is supporting schools and colleges to keep any disruption to education to an absolute minimum.
Every case is unique and the impact on schools and colleges can be highly varied. Departmental officials work with schools and colleges to put in place a bespoke plan based on their circumstances. In some cases, there is no impact on teaching space, or it is limited to small areas. For others, mitigation plans can include using other spaces on the school site or locally until building works are carried out or temporary buildings are installed. Where some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to teaching. From the department’s experience to date, where remote teaching was used for a period, the typical time out of school was a matter of days.
As of 20 February 2024, 2 primary schools in England were exempted from participation in one or more statutory primary assessments in the last 12 months due to areas with confirmed RAAC being taken out of use. Across the 2 schools, this impacted 355 pupils across the relevant year groups.
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 has made a recent assessment of the safety of school buildings constructed using block and beam concrete.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
It is the responsibility of those running schools – academy trusts, local authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – to collect and record information about their buildings and to ensure they are safe, well-maintained and comply with relevant regulations. The department supports schools and colleges on how this should be done in the Good Estate Management for Schools guidance, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools.
The department does not hold a central register of construction types used in the education estate. Beam and block is one of the most common construction methods and is used across many building types. As for all construction materials, its lifespan will depend on its maintenance history and use.
Departmental officials have regular discussions with relevant professional bodies and leading material specialists to ensure they are aware of any emerging evidence regarding the safety of construction materials used in the education estate.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average expected design life is of schools constructed using block and beam concrete.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
It is the responsibility of those running schools – academy trusts, local authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – to collect and record information about their buildings and to ensure they are safe, well-maintained and comply with relevant regulations. The department supports schools and colleges on how this should be done in the Good Estate Management for Schools guidance, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools.
The department does not hold a central register of construction types used in the education estate. Beam and block is one of the most common construction methods and is used across many building types. As for all construction materials, its lifespan will depend on its maintenance history and use.
Departmental officials have regular discussions with relevant professional bodies and leading material specialists to ensure they are aware of any emerging evidence regarding the safety of construction materials used in the education estate.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools were constructed using block and beam concrete in each local authority.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
It is the responsibility of those running schools – academy trusts, local authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – to collect and record information about their buildings and to ensure they are safe, well-maintained and comply with relevant regulations. The department supports schools and colleges on how this should be done in the Good Estate Management for Schools guidance, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools.
The department does not hold a central register of construction types used in the education estate. Beam and block is one of the most common construction methods and is used across many building types. As for all construction materials, its lifespan will depend on its maintenance history and use.
Departmental officials have regular discussions with relevant professional bodies and leading material specialists to ensure they are aware of any emerging evidence regarding the safety of construction materials used in the education estate.