Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what methodology her Department uses for analysing the energy costs of schools; and whether she is taking steps to help reduce those costs.

The Department understands that schools are facing challenges with rising prices, particularly in relation to energy costs. The Department consults regularly with schools, Local Authorities, and other stakeholders to understand the impact of this on schools’ budgets.

The increases to school funding of £2.0 billion in 2023/24 and 2024/25, announced in the 2022 Autumn Statement, will help schools to manage these higher costs. This is on top of significant funding uplifts that were announced in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021. Overall, core schools funding, including funding for both mainstream schools and high needs, is £4 billon higher this year than last year. It will rise by another £3.5 billion, on top of that, next year. Taken together, that means an increase of over 15% in just two years.

Schools have been benefitting from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which will run until the end of March 2023. This scheme has reduced how much schools need to spend on their energy and given schools greater certainty over their budgets over the winter months. The details of the scheme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-bill-relief-scheme-help-for-businesses-and-other-non-domestic-customers.

The government has also announced a new energy scheme, the Energy Bill Discount Scheme, which will run from April 2023 to March 2024. All schools are eligible for this scheme, which will provide discounts to those schools paying the highest energy prices. The details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-bills-discount-scheme.

To help schools to improve their energy efficiency, the Department is allocating £500 million of additional capital funding this financial year for schools, sixth form colleges and further education (FE) colleges, to help improve energy efficiency. This comprises £447 million for schools and sixth form colleges and £53 million for FE colleges to spend on capital improvements to buildings and facilities, prioritising works to improve energy efficiency.

The Department has published guidance for schools and colleges on sensible steps for reducing energy use and small-scale works to improve energy efficiency, which can be implemented relatively quickly to make a difference through the colder months and beyond.