Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an estimate of the cost to schools transport to and from temporary school buildings.

The safety of pupils and staff is vital. It is the responsibility of those who run schools, including Academy Trusts, Local Authorities and Voluntary Aided School Bodies, to manage the maintenance of their schools and alert the Department if there is a concern with a building. Local Authorities and Academy Trusts do not need to report to the Department if they are operating from temporary buildings, but the Department provides support on a case by case basis as necessary. This includes when schools have closed part or all of the site for a period of time. In most cases this is for a number of days as opposed to a longer closure. The number of schools this has applied to is changing regularly with ongoing activity to mitigate the effect, including minimising any short term influence on education. Where the Department is aware of the use of temporary buildings it works with responsible bodies to understand the effect of this, including costs.

The Department uses temporary buildings on school sites for short periods of time in centrally delivered school building programmes, and this is planned carefully to ensure disruption to education is minimised.

The Department provides support to schools and responsible bodies and has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 to keep schools safe and operational. This includes £1.8 billion committed this financial year, informed by consistent data on the school estate. In addition, the Department’s School Rebuilding Programme will transform 500 schools over the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition.