Schools: Buildings

(asked on 20th December 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the table of key risks contained at page 103 of the Department for Education's Annual Report published on 19 December 2022, whether the risks that school buildings with elements at condition grade D are greater when temperatures are below zero.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 11th January 2023

The Department’s Condition Data Collection (CDC) grades individual building elements between A and D. These surveys are visual inspections only, and do not assess the overall structural integrity of a building. The grading of an individual element should not therefore be directly linked to the overall structural integrity of a building or the effect of extreme weather conditions.

School owners are responsible for providing a safe environment for their pupils. Where they have significant concerns about the integrity of their buildings, they should contact officials using existing reporting mechanisms.

The Department’s Good Estate Management for Schools sets out advice, standards, and tools to support effective estate management, and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools.

The Department prioritises capital support where there is a risk to health and safety. Over £13 billion has been allocated since 2015 to maintain and improve school facilities across England, including £1.8 billion in 2022/23. The Department is transforming the environment at 500 schools and sixth form colleges over the next decade. In December 2022, the Department announced 239 more schools to be rebuilt or refurbished, taking the total to 400 of the 500 projects already planned.

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