Skelton Primary School

(asked on 13th October 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional capital funding Skelton Primary School, in the Redcar and Cleveland local authority area of Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency, received from the Government for the purposes of improving the condition of elements of that school which were rated 100% poor by the Condition Data Collection survey.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 23rd October 2023

It is the responsibility of those who run schools - academy trusts, Local Authorities and voluntary aided school bodies - to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the Department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the Department is made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.

The Department has committed £1.8 billion of capital funding for the 2023/24 financial year to improve the condition of school buildings, as part of over £15 billion allocated since 2015. In addition, the Department will transform poor condition buildings at 500 schools and sixth form colleges over the coming decade through the School Rebuilding Programme. A list of all schools selected for the programme is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.

It is important to note that it was only since 2010, and the subsequent introduction of the Priority School Rebuilding Programme, and its successors, that building condition was made the driver for schools to be chosen for rebuilding. Previous programmes, such as the Building Schools for the Future (BSF), prioritised rebuilding for non-condition related reasons. Furthermore, the inclusion of a school within BSF did not mean it necessarily addressed the presence of RAAC. Several schools now confirmed as containing RAAC through the Department’s questionnaire and surveying programme were refurbished under BSF.

Local Authorities, larger multi academy trusts and larger voluntary aided bodies are eligible to receive an annual School Condition Allocation (SCA). It is for these responsible bodies to prioritise SCA across their schools based on local knowledge of the condition of their buildings. Smaller and stand alone academy trusts, small voluntary aided school bodies and sixth-form colleges are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), an annual bidding round, to apply for funding for specific capital projects. Information on CIF and SCA eligible schools for the 2023/24 financial year is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding#funding-allocations-for-the-2023-to-2024-financial-year.

Applications to the CIF are robustly assessed against the published criteria, prioritising need, and feedback is provided on unsuccessful applications. All successful CIF bids are published here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund.

The Condition Data Collection (CDC) programme was the first ever comprehensive survey of the school estate. Previous administrations did not have consistent national data to understand the condition of the school estate. The survey, which ran from 2017-19, under which approximately 22,000 government funded schools and 250 further education establishments in England were visited, allowed the Department to understand the condition of the school and further education college estate and informed capital funding and programmes. Allocations to improve the condition of schools take into account consistent data from the Condition Data Collection (CDC1) to ensure funding is weighted to reflect the relative condition of school buildings. The Condition Data Collection 2 is in progress to collect updated data on the condition of schools in England. Reports from the programmes are shared with schools and responsible bodies to help inform their plans, alongside their own condition surveys and checks.

Schools also receive funding to spend on their capital priorities or to contribute to larger projects through an annual Devolved Formula Capital allocation (DFC). Details of SCA and DFC allocations for the current financial year are available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding#funding-allocations-for-the-2022-to-2023-financial-year. Allocations for previous years are available at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/*/https:/www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-allocations.

Where the Department is alerted to significant safety issues with a building that cannot be managed with local resources, the Department provides additional support on a case by case basis. CIF eligible schools can apply for urgent capital support at any time in the year, if they have urgent building issues that need to be addressed. The Department also provides extensive guidance for responsible bodies to help them manage their estates effectively through resources such as the Good Estate Management for Schools guidance.

The Department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in education settings at the heart of its policy decisions.

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