Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Audit Office report entitled Condition of school buildings published on 28 June 2023, whether her Department plans to provide funding to schools to restore buildings beyond their estimated initial design life.
Answer
The safety of pupils and staff is vital. This is why the Department has been significantly investing in transforming schools across the country. Where there are serious safety issues with a building, the Department takes immediate and swift action to ensure the safety of pupils and school staff.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools. They should alert the Department if there is a concern with a building.
The Department provides these responsible bodies with significant funding targeted toward where it is most needed to help them carry out these responsibilities, alongside a package of other guidance and support that the National Audit Office (NAO) found was comprehensive and well regarded by the sector.
The Department allocates significant funding to those responsible for the school estate to improve their buildings. This is over £15 billion since 2015, including 1.8 billion committed for the 2023/24 financial year.
The School Rebuilding Programme is transforming buildings at 500 schools over the course of the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition. The Department has announced 400 schools to date, including 239 in December 2022.
As set out by the NAO, buildings can normally be used beyond their estimated initial design life through regular maintenance and upgrades.
CDC1 and CDC2 are high level Condition Data Collection (CDC) programmes, the largest such surveys of UK public sector buildings. They allow the Department to understand the condition of the school estate over time and inform capital funding and programmes.
Individual reports are shared with every school and their responsible bodies, to help inform their investment plans alongside their own more detailed condition surveys and safety checks.
The Department is working with responsible bodies, schools, and colleges to support them through the process of investigation, assessment, and management of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
The Department has been communicating with schools about the potential risks of RAAC since 2018, when the Department first published a warning note with the Local Government Association.
Since then, the Department has published guidance in identifying and managing RAAC. In March 2022, the Department asked all schools to share their knowledge of RAAC, its presence in their buildings, and how they are managing it. The Department is following up rigorously to ensure as complete a response as possible.
The Department continues to urge all responsible bodies to get in touch with it immediately if they have any concerns about their school building. The Department relies on this information to enable it to take swift action.
The questionnaire is still open for responses from responsible bodies and schools, and the Department also encourages settings to update their responses if their situation changes.
The Department’s professional surveyors have already carried out over 200 assessments where RAAC is suspected to verify its presence and assess its condition. The Department is on track to complete 600 assessments by autumn, ahead of the initial forecast of December 2023.
In cases where RAAC is confirmed, the Department provides rapid support to schools on the advice of structural engineers. This could include funding capital works to remove any immediate risk and, where absolutely necessary, the provision of temporary buildings.
Longer term remediation of RAAC is supported by capital funding provided to the sector, the Department’s rebuilding programme and urgent capital support.