Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many repair projects funded by the Condition Improvement Fund in 2021-22 (a) have been completed and (b) are on-track to be completed by summer 2022 as at 25 November 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
The total number of Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) projects approved in the 2021-22 round was 1,486.
For the CIF 2021-22 round:
(a) 75 projects have completed on site and provided a completion return to the department.
(b) Based on the latest monitoring return and our forecasted slippage assumptions, we anticipate a further 893 projects will be completed by the end of August 2022.
This information is correct as at 26 November 2021.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of education recovery funding to tackle cost pressures incurred by schools as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Robin Walker
Helping children and young people to catch up is a key priority which is why, in this Spending Review, the department has announced a further £1.8 billion in dedicated support for education recovery. This takes government investment to just under £5 billion for an ambitious, multi-year approach for education recovery across early years, schools and 16-19.
The department has consistently targeted recovery funding where the evidence tells us it will be most effective, on tutoring and teaching, £650 million has already gone directly to schools via our catch-up premium, with more than £300 million going direct to schools this academic year via the recovery premium. Our recent announcement includes an additional £1 billion recovery premium for schools over the next two academic years (2022/23 and 2023/24).
Direct recovery funding comes on top of wider increases to early years, schools and college funding. Schools will receive an additional £4.7 billion in core funding in the 2024-25 financial year, including £1.6 billion in the 2022-23 financial year on top of already planned increases from the 2019 Spending Review, which is equivalent to a total cash increase of £1,500 per pupil between 2019-20 and 2024-25 financial years.
Additional funding via the Covid Exceptional Costs fund has also been provided to schools, which reimbursed them for costs identified as the biggest barrier to operating as they needed to between March and July 2020, to support vulnerable children and children of critical workers. The department has paid schools £139 million for all claims within the published scope of the fund across both application windows.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of schools have (a) external wall insulation, (b) double or triple-glazing, (c) solar panels and (d) heat pumps.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department does not hold Energy Performance Certificates (EPC), these are held by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) who run the EPC scheme. We work closely with BEIS to understand the energy performance of the school estate.
The next round of the Condition Data Collection (CDC2) programme has started and will collect further information about the sustainability performance of the school estate, including heat pumps. Further information about this scheme can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-data-collection-2-cdc2-programme. The previous Condition Data Collection (CDC1) programme was undertaken between 2017-19. However, this does not hold the specific data that you have identified.
More broadly, the department is committed to investing in the school estate and has recently announced that all new Department for Education delivered projects, delivered under our new construction framework, will be net zero carbon in operation. They will also respond appropriately to climate change adaptation such as overheating risk, biodiversity net gain and enhanced flood resilience measures, to contribute towards meeting the government’s climate change targets.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools had an EPC rating of C or above in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department does not hold Energy Performance Certificates (EPC), these are held by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) who run the EPC scheme. We work closely with BEIS to understand the energy performance of the school estate.
The next round of the Condition Data Collection (CDC2) programme has started and will collect further information about the sustainability performance of the school estate, including heat pumps. Further information about this scheme can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-data-collection-2-cdc2-programme. The previous Condition Data Collection (CDC1) programme was undertaken between 2017-19. However, this does not hold the specific data that you have identified.
More broadly, the department is committed to investing in the school estate and has recently announced that all new Department for Education delivered projects, delivered under our new construction framework, will be net zero carbon in operation. They will also respond appropriately to climate change adaptation such as overheating risk, biodiversity net gain and enhanced flood resilience measures, to contribute towards meeting the government’s climate change targets.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of schools that are stockpiling food items in response to potential supply chain disruption to school meals.
Answered by Will Quince
Schools are responsible for the provision of school meals and may enter individual contracts with suppliers and caterers to meet this duty.
There is no evidence to suggest widespread supply issues. We routinely consider contingency arrangements and expect schools and catering companies supplying them to do the same.
The department does not monitor individual school contracts nor stock levels, but expects schools to continue providing pupils with nutritious school meals and to meet the School Food Standards which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools.
The department’s published guidance advises schools, further education colleges and local authorities on how to prepare for potential changes to food supplies so they can minimise the effect on pupils and young people in their care. The guidance can be found here:
Schools are not encouraged to order more than they need, but do have flexibility under the School Food Standards to substitute food products if particular ingredients or meals are not readily available.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to stop anti-vaccination protestors disrupting schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
It is never acceptable for anyone to pressurise or intimidate pupils, teachers or the wider school community, and protestors engaging in this type of behaviour should immediately bring it to an end.
The department has provided information in guidance for schools on how to handle any misinformation or disruption. In the event of a protest or disruptive activity outside a school, or if schools know a protest is planned, they should alert the School Age Immunisation Service provider, local authority and local police contacts to discuss the best way to manage the situation.
Should a protest contravene the law, the police have comprehensive powers to deal with activities that spread hate or deliberately raise tensions through violence or public disorder. This does not negate the right to peaceful protest.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's press release of 14 October 2021, 1,000 schools connected to top-of-the-class full fibre broadband, how many schools will not have access to full-fibre gigabit broadband by 2025.
Answered by Robin Walker
According to data from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), 3,835 schools are in postcodes that do not have access to full fibre or are currently not in areas of proposed commercial build within the next 5 years.
The government remains committed to investing £5 billion to bring gigabit coverage to the hardest to reach areas and will continue to work with suppliers to accelerate this investment, taking account of industry capacity to bid for, and deliver, contracts to build in uncommercial areas alongside their commercial plans. GigaHubs is one of the programmes DCMS is using to deliver the government ambition of gigabit capabilities across the UK by 2030. As part of the wider Project Gigabit, GigaHubs will use up to £110 million to connect public buildings such as rural schools, doctors’ surgeries and libraries to gigabit broadband. This will help GPs provide remote video consultations and allow whole classes of school children to be online, at once, with no interruptions. Around 2,000 schools are in scope of the Gigabit Hubs programme and so will have access to gigabit capable connectivity by 2025.
These figures do not account for schools that already have access to fibre through a private leased line arrangement to enable gigabit capable connectivity. These figures are also open to flux as commercial build plans evolve over time.