Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of new schools opened since 2010 have had sprinkler systems installed; and if he will make a statement.

The Government takes the safety of pupils and staff very seriously. All schools have to follow strict fire safety regulations, including having a Fire Risk Assessment, designed to ensure they are as safe as possible and well prepared in the event of a fire.

Where sprinklers are deemed necessary to keep pupils and staff safe, following an assessment of risk at the design stage, or to meet local planning requirements, they must be fitted. All new school building projects must comply with Building Regulations, including on fire safety, and this must be independently checked by Building Control or an Approved Inspector before buildings are occupied.

As not all new schools in England are commissioned by the Department for Education, the Department does not hold data on the proportion of all new schools that have been built with or without sprinklers since 2010. The Department does hold information on the centrally funded Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP). Of the 260 schools in phase one of PSBP, 74 have, or are planned to have, sprinklers fitted. As schools under phase two of PSBP are still in the early design stage, it is not yet clear which may require sprinklers at this time.

The Department does not hold comprehensive data on the number of free schools fitted with sprinklers as schools developed under the free schools programme were originally managed by the individual free school proposer groups. The Department is doing further work that will enable us to provide figures on sprinklers fitted in all schools delivered centrally by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Alongside the rest of Government, the Department will take forward findings from the independent review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, and from the Public Inquiry into the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.