Educational Institutions: Repairs and Maintenance

(asked on 8th July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial assistance is available to support schools and colleges with the cost of essential maintenance work.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 16th July 2021

The Department has allocated £11.3 billion in capital funding since 2015 to improve the condition of the school estate, including £1.8 billion committed in this financial year. Allocations are informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate.

Schools, and those responsible for school buildings, access condition funding through different routes depending on their size and type. Local authorities, large multi-academy trusts and large voluntary-aided school bodies, receive an annual formulaic school condition allocation to invest in the schools for which they are responsible.

Smaller multi-academy trusts, stand-alone academies, voluntary-aided schools not in large voluntary-aided school bodies and sixth form colleges are able to bid to the Condition Improvement Fund each year. All schools also receive funding to spend on their own capital priorities through an annual devolved formula capital allocation. Capital funding beyond the 2021/22 financial year will be determined at the Spending Review.

In addition, the Department delivers major rebuilding and refurbishment programmes centrally. My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced a new, 10 year School Rebuilding Programme last June, which will replace school buildings in poor condition with modern, energy-efficient designs. The Department has announced the first 50 schools to benefit from this, as part of a commitment to 500 projects over the next decade. We expect to confirm a further 50 projects this year and plan to consult on the approach to prioritising future projects later in 2021.

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