Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has provided to Havering Council through school condition allocations.

Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. The Department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 to keep schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme will transform buildings at 500 schools over the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition with evidence of potential safety issues. The Department has announced 400 schools to date, with 239 announced in December 2022, including Parklands Primary School in Romford constituency.

Havering Local Authority has been allocated a school condition allocation of £2,521,988 for the 2023/24 financial year to use in maintaining and improving the condition of its school buildings. Large multi academy trusts and voluntary aided school groups with schools in Havering will also have been allocated a school condition allocation to spend on their school buildings. Smaller and single academy trusts were invited to bid into the condition improvement fund, with outcomes now published on GOV.UK.

Schools maintained by Havering Local Authority have also been allocated £300,288 in devolved formula capital in the financial year 2023/24 to spend on their own capital priorities, whilst schools in the Local Authority across all types of responsible bodies have been allocated £915,546.