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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what action his Department is taking to ensure that schools incorporate sustainable and environmental measures into their school buildings as part of the capital investment in school buildings; [194040] (2) if his Department will ensure that sufficient funding is available for schools to incorporate sustainable and environmental measures into their school buildings as part of the capital investment in school buildings; [194041] (3) what steps his Department is taking to support the incorporation of sustainable and environmental measures into school buildings; [194042] (4) how much has been provided by his Department for capital investment in school buildings in each of the last 10 years; and how much of this total was invested in sustainable and environmental measures. [194043] Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department is committed to sustainable development in education. Our Sustainable Development Action Plan for Education and Skills, launched in September 2003, sets out the work we are doing, and I am placing copies in the House Library. Action on capital investment and school buildings includes the production of a new Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) for schools, which we are launching today at the Environment Agency's annual conference in Birmingham. We also promote good practice through building bulletins, which explain the application of building regulations to schools, demonstration projects such as our `classrooms of the future' and `exemplar schools of the future', and the development of design quality indicators. This Department's support for capital investment in school buildings, including PFI credits, is £4.5 billion this year, 2004-05. Capital support, including PFI credits and ICT, will rise to £5.5 billion in 2005-06 and then, following the Spending Review 2004, by £750 million to £6.3 billion in 2007-08. The figures for school buildings, including PFI credits, over the last 10 years are as follows: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. £ million 1994-95 613 1995-96 625 1996-97 683 1997-98 755 1998-99 887 1999-2000 1,040 2000-01 1,824 2001-02 1,828 2002-03 2,156 2003-04 3,039 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. We do not ring-fence our support for environmental and sustainable measures, and do not collect information about how resources are invested locally. But these are substantial amounts that will allow all new schools to aim for at least a `very good' rating under BREEAM, and for existing schools to improve their sustainability.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

425 c1264-5W; 194040;194041;194042;194043

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Buildings Capital investment Finance Environment protection Schools Sustainable development

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk