Schools: Energy

(asked on 25th January 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in the context of rising energy costs, if she will take steps to (a) ensure schools have financial support to retrofit their buildings with energy saving measures and (b) provide funding for school rebuilding programmes to secure lower energy costs over the long term.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 3rd February 2023

This financial year, eligible schools have received an allocation from an additional £447 million in capital funding for improvements to buildings and facilities, prioritising works to improve energy efficiency. The Department has also published guidance for schools on sensible steps for reducing energy use and improving energy efficiency.

The Department’s School Rebuilding Programme will rebuild or refurbish buildings at 500 schools. New buildings delivered through the Programme are designed to be net zero in operation, with increased resilience to climate change. The Department has also allocated £1.8 billion in capital funding this financial year to maintain and improve the condition of school buildings, including improving energy efficiency, as part of over £13 billion allocated since 2015.

In addition, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) provides grants for public sector bodies, including schools, to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures. Phase 3 of the PSDS is expected to provide £1.425 billion in grant funding over the 2022/23 and 2024/25 financial years.

The Department is piloting approaches to sustainable building design and retrofit to gather further evidence on the most effective and efficient approaches. The Department has also provided schools and those responsible for school buildings with guidance on sustainability, managing energy and water use and minimising waste in its ‘Good Estate Management for Schools’ manual.

A new energy scheme for businesses, charities, and the public sector was also confirmed on 9 January 2023, ahead of the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme ending in March. The new scheme will mean all eligible UK businesses and other non-domestic energy users, including schools, will receive a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024. In addition, taking the Dedicated Schools Grant allocations and the additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement together, core schools funding, which includes funding for both mainstream schools and high needs, is increasing by £3.5 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, compared to the 2022/23 financial year. This takes the total core schools budget for 2023/24 to £57.3 billion.

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