Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school buildings in Maidenhead are classified as requiring urgent repair under her Department’s Condition Data Collection.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
From 2021 to 2026, the Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) programme is visiting every government-funded school and college in England to collect data about the condition of their buildings. This is providing an updated and comprehensive picture of the condition of the school estate in England to support our capital funding policy and programmes.
School reports, setting out the condition of building elements, are shared with each school and their responsible body while the CDC2 programme is in progress, so that schools and responsible bodies have access to the latest assessment of their site.
Information on the condition of schools, as assessed by the predecessor programme (CDC1), can be found at: https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/depositedpaper/2285521/details.
Responsible bodies, such as local authorities, voluntary-aided school bodies, and multi and single academy trusts, have the responsibility to make regular assessments of the condition of schools in their estate to inform programmes of maintenance works.
The department has increased funding to improve the condition of the estate for the 2025/26 financial year to £2.1 billion, up from £1.8 billion last year. Allocations are published on GOV.UK and are partly informed by consistent data on the condition of the estate collected by the department, reflecting the relative need of schools. This is in addition to our continued investment in the current School Rebuilding Programme.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure academic consistency between (a) GCSEs and (b) iGCSEs; and whether she has held discussions with (i) teachers and (ii) parents on perceptions of the differences between those qualifications.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
International GCSEs, which includes iGCSEs, and GCSEs in England are different qualifications. Unlike GCSEs, international GCSEs are not developed by the department, regulated by Ofqual or funded for use in state schools. International GCSEs have also not counted in school performance tables since GCSEs were last reformed.
International GCSEs were introduced to serve the large international market for British qualifications and are also offered by some independent schools. The awarding organisations that offer international GCSEs decide the content for these qualifications and how that content is assessed. The department has no role in setting grading standards for these qualifications.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making it a statutory requirement for schools to have libraries; and whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that all schools have access to well-resourced libraries.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Maidenhead to the answer of 28 January 2025 to Question 25150.