Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will set out the reasons for which schools that are awaiting full or partial rebuilds have not been included in each round of the School Rebuilding Programme.

In February 2020 the Department announced the first 50 of 500 projects to replace or refurbish buildings through the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP). The Department is also replacing or refurbishing school buildings through the Priority School Building Programme. All confirmed projects in both programmes are underway or complete. Details of the projects are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-first-50-schools and https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/priority-school-building-programme-psbp#psbp-1:-documents-and-overview.

The Department does not hold a central list of schools ranked in order of priority for rebuilds or awaiting rebuilding, part rebuilding, or refurbishment, beyond the schools confirmed for these programmes. Data is collected on the condition of school buildings through the Condition Data Collection (CDC). Details of this programme are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-data-collection-2-cdc2-programme.

The prioritisation process for the second round of 50 SRP projects is ongoing, informed by data from CDC as well as further investigations and site visits, to identify schools where condition need is most highly concentrated and urgent. The process used to prioritise these projects is explained here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme/school-rebuilding-programme.

The Department plans to consult later this year on the approach to prioritising projects for the next 400 projects in SRP, following which the approach for future project will be confirmed. The Department expects there to be opportunities for evidence of severe condition need not captured by CDC data to be submitted for consideration in future rounds.

Buildings may also be replaced outside of these programmes. The Department allocates capital funding annually to schools and those responsible for school buildings to maintain and improve the condition of their buildings. Since 2015, the Department has allocated £11.3 billion in condition funding, including £1.8 billion committed for financial year 2021-22.