Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure the transparency of decisions relating to the School Rebuilding Programme.

The current nomination round for the School Rebuilding Programme closes for nominations in March. Following that, we aim to select schools to proceed into the programme later this year. We have not yet assessed the nomination for any school in this round.

The department recently consulted on the approach to future selection rounds of the School Rebuilding Programme. The primary goal of the consultation was to seek views on how to prioritise schools fairly and effectively for the programme. The department published the response on 3 February 2022, along with detailed guidance on the process for the next round, here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/prioritising-schools-for-the-school-rebuilding-programme. We have held a series of webinars to answer questions from local authorities and academy trusts about the process.

The department confirmed the first 100 schools in the programme last year, as part of a commitment to 500 rebuilding and refurbishment projects over the next decade. A list of these schools, and the methodology used for their selection, has been published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme/school-rebuilding-programme. The department also publishes all commercial contracts over £10,000 here: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.