Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to publish an update on progress made against the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy commitments.

As committed to in the Department for Education’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, the Department will produce a progress report on the implementation of this strategy. ​ The report is anticipated to be published in December 2023.

Accountability arrangements are already in place through the Department’s official governance.

£170 million has been allocated to the Sustainability and Climate Change portfolio between 2022/23 and 2024/25. Of this, £138 million (81%) is part of the Department’s innovate, test, invest process to identify measures to make education buildings more sustainable or more resilient to climate change. This will ensure evidence is at the heart of decision making.

The remaining 19% is focused on cross cutting initiatives to drive systems change, including the National Education Nature Park, support to schools and colleges to put in place climate action plans and setting up systems to assess the risk of climate change and report emissions.

The Department also continues to work with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to help schools and colleges access the £1.4 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to improve sustainability. From October 2022, up to £635 million has been made available through Phase 3b of the scheme for installing low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures in public buildings over the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, with a minimum of 30% going to schools and colleges. This will help to cut emissions and save on energy bills. Phase 3b closed on 31 October 2022 and Phase 3c is expected to open for applications in autumn 2023.

New school buildings delivered by the Department, such as through the School Rebuilding Programme, are designed and fully funded to be net zero carbon in operation and more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Capital funding is also allocated every year to improve the condition of school buildings, including improving energy efficiency. The Department allocated £1.8 billion for financial year 2023/24, including funding for Local Authorities to allocate to their maintained schools.

In 2022 to 2023, eligible schools and sixth-form colleges received an allocation from an additional £447 million of capital funding to improve energy efficiency. This is part of an additional £500 million of capital funding for schools and further education institutions in England.

Capital allocations are available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding.