Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the quality of (a) buildings and (b) facilities in state secondary schools in England.

Ensuring schools and colleges have the facilities and buildings they need is a key part of the department’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every young person the best start in life.

The department supports local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided school bodies responsible for the school estate by providing capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes and offering guidance and support. We have increased funding to improve the condition of the estate for the 2025/26 financial year to £2.1 billion, up from £1.8 billion last year. This is in addition to our continued investment in the school rebuilding programme.

From 2021 to 2026, the department’s Condition Data Collection 2 programme is visiting every government-funded school and college in England to collect data about the condition of their buildings. This data will provide a comprehensive picture of the condition of the school estate in England to support our capital funding programmes.

In addition, the department has commissioned new research, due to complete by spring 2026, to better understand the performance of post-war education buildings.