Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) processes and (b) the planned timetable is for the (i) collection, (ii) review, (iii) preparation for publication and (iv) publication of data on the physical condition of schools in England through the Condition Data Collection Two programme.

The Department is managing the Condition Data Collection (CDC) 2 programme from 2021-26. The Department is working with three surveying organisations to collect building condition data for every government funded school in England. The school building condition data collected is quality assured to ensure it meets the expected data quality standards. Further information about the programme can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/973890/CDC2_Programme_Guide.pdf.

The main purpose of the CDC2 programme is to assess school building condition consistently. The data is used as part of a wider evidence base to allocate condition funding fairly. CDC2 collects condition data at a high level and is not a safety survey. Schools and responsible bodies have separate reporting mechanisms to notify the Department of structural or safety issues and the Department provides extensive guidance on effective school estate management and management of building safety risk.

The Department currently only has CDC2 data for approximately a quarter of the school estate and is planning to publish data after the end of the programme.