Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2015 to Question 225826, which 12 schools within Birmingham local authority area applied for additional funding for universal infant free school meals; and in which constituencies those schools are located.
Answered by David Laws
Birmingham City Council submitted bids for schools within the following parliamentary constituencies during the local authority universal infant free school meal capital bidding round: Edgbaston, Erdington, Hodge Hill, Perry Barr, Northfield, Selly Oak, and Yardley.
The Department for Education has not yet published the names of schools which applied for but were not allocated funding. The department plans to publish this information in July 2015.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools in which parliamentary constituencies in Birmingham applied for additional funding for universal infant free school meals; and which schools in which parliamentary constituencies in Birmingham received funding from the additional funds allocated in the capital funding round for universal infant free school meals.
Answered by David Laws
Applications for additional capital funding for universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) were submitted for a total of 12 schools within Birmingham Local Authority.
On 20 January, the Department for Education published the names and parliamentary constituencies of schools whose application for funding was successful, these can be viewed at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-infant-free-school-meals-capital-funding-allocations
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons her Department has decided to refund VAT costs for schools and academies.
Answered by David Laws
Local authority maintained schools are able to recover VAT costs because they are part of local government and their expenditure is regarded as the expenditure of the local authority. Local authorities as a whole are able to recover VAT costs because they are subsidiary tax-raising authorities within the United Kingdom.
When schools move outside local authority control to become academies they are no longer covered by this regime. Since 2011, legislation has been in force that ensures that in this respect academies are treated in the same way as maintained schools. Academies can recover directly from HMRC the VAT which they incur on goods and services.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the application for Priority School Building Programme funding by Balaam Wood Academy; and what phase of the programme the Academy is at.
Answered by David Laws
The second phase of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP2) will undertake major rebuilding and refurbishment projects in schools, or individual school buildings, in the very worst condition. Responsible bodies were invited to express an interest in the programme, on behalf of their schools, in July. We are currently assessing the expressions of interest and anticipate that we will be able to inform applicants of the outcome by the end of the year.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether factors additional to geography, commercial viability and condition need are assessed by her Department when selecting schools in the Priority School Building Programme.
Answered by David Laws
On 24 May 2011, the then Secretary of State confirmed that 261 schools would be rebuilt, or have their condition needs met through the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP). These schools were selected on the basis of their condition need.
For delivery purposes, the 261 schools have been grouped into batches taking geography and commercial viability into consideration. We have sought to prioritise the delivery of those batches containing schools in the worst condition.
In June 2014, a second phase of the PSBP was launched. The schools to be included in this second phase of the PSBP will again be determined solely on the basis of their condition need.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department has used to decide which schools will receive Priority School Building Programme funding.
Answered by David Laws
We have completed a comprehensive Property Data Survey of the school estate. We will use information from that survey, together with information regarding any significant structural or asbestos related issues included within schools’ expressions of interest, to prioritise schools or individual buildings for inclusion in the second phase of the Priority School Building Programme.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish its detailed condition survey of schools in England.
Answered by David Laws
The Property Data Survey Programme, which carried out high-level condition surveys of the school estate in England, completed its last survey in July 2014. To ensure that the data is sufficiently robust before it is put to any further use, I asked officials to share the data that we had gathered with schools and responsible bodies and rectify any significant variances in the dataset.
The deadline for feedback from schools and responsible bodies has recently passed and officials are considering where the survey information needs to be updated. Once this is completed, the Department will give further consideration to the future publication of the data.