Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide funding for the rebuilding of the Whitehaven Academy.

The replacement of the buildings at Whitehaven Academy has previously been considered through capital bids to the Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP), which were unsuccessful.

The £4.4 billion PSBP programme is intended to replace or refurbish those school blocks in the worst condition across the country. By focusing on those individual buildings in the worst condition, we are targeting limited funding in the most effective way possible and securing best value for money for the taxpayer.

DfE officials visited the school in April and October 2016 to help identify priority condition issues and gave advice to the Bright Tribe Trust as to how they should focus investment using funding from the annual school condition allocation that the Bright Tribe Trust receives.