The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) was established in 2015.

From 2015/16 to 2025/26, 133 CIF-eligible schools and sixth form colleges in Surrey local authority have submitted 991 CIF applications. Of these, 110 schools secured funding for 378 projects.

Further information regarding successful CIF applications, including schools receiving funding, is available for the 2015/16 to 2025/26 rounds and is published on GOV.UK.

The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) was established in 2015.

From 2015/16 to 2025/26, 133 CIF-eligible schools and sixth form colleges in Surrey local authority have submitted 991 CIF applications. Of these, 110 schools secured funding for 378 projects.

Further information regarding successful CIF applications, including schools receiving funding, is available for the 2015/16 to 2025/26 rounds and is published on GOV.UK.

The government has increased capital funding to £2.1 billion for school maintenance in the 2025/26 financial year, almost £300 million more than in 2024/25. As part of this, the department announced on 30 May that the £470 million Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) will support 789 essential projects at 656 eligible schools and sixth form colleges.

The appeals round for unsuccessful applicants to CIF 2025/26 opened on 2 June and closed at 12 noon on 23 June. We aim to announce the results of appeals in August, and do not comment on individual cases beforehand in order to be fair to all applicants.

Schools and sixth-form colleges eligible for CIF, including The Corbet School, may apply for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) at any time, where they have evidence of serious and urgent issues that threaten the operation of the school and which cannot be managed independently or wait for a future funding round. Further details on UCS can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund#urgent-capital-support.

The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. The department also provide extensive guidance on effective management of school buildings, including through Good Estates Management for Schools.

The department publishes detailed guidelines in the Information for Applicants document on GOV.UK each round to support school leaders, staff, and governing bodies at those academies, sixth form colleges and voluntary aided schools eligible to apply for the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).

This includes tips on how to prepare a good CIF application and advice about the types of evidence applicants should provide to support a bid for different types of building projects, along with an application checklist. This includes information about the services that responsible bodies can seek from technical advisory companies. For CIF 2024/25, the department also produced a recorded overview made available to all applicants before they completed their bids.

Prior to the 2024/25 round opening to applicants, the CIF team invited sessions with eligible responsible bodies who had either made no recent applications or had been repeatedly unsuccessful with bids. We plan to offer further meetings to additional CIF eligible trusts and providers following the outcome of the 2024/25 round this spring.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The Department has allocated over £15 billion of capital funding since 2015 for essential maintenance and improvements to schools, including £1.8 billion committed in this financial year. Of this, £456 million has been allocated to 1,033 projects through the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) round for the 2023/24 financial year to 859 eligible schools and sixth form colleges.

CIF is an annual bidding round for stand alone academies, schools in smaller multi-academy trusts and voluntary aided groups, and sixth form colleges to apply for capital funding. The priority for CIF is to address significant condition need to keep buildings safe and in good working order. This includes funding projects to address health and safety issues, building compliance and poor building condition. There were 4,547 academies, sixth form colleges and voluntary aided schools eligible to apply to CIF in 2023/24.

CIF has funded over 11, 000 projects since its first round in the 2015/16 financial year, making a difference to pupils and teachers and helping to create safer schools and colleges.

Since the first round of the CIF in 2015/16, the average number of applications made to the CIF before being successfully selected for funding is 1.22 applications by an academy, 1.64 applications by a sixth form college and 0.4 applications by a voluntary aided school.

Applicants can apply for up to two projects in each application round. Not all applications will be for the same works in every round.

The highest number of separate applications made to the CIF across the nine annual rounds of the programme without being successful is 13 projects by a sixth form college, 4 projects by a voluntary aided school, and 14 projects by an academy. There are a range of reasons why some trusts are repeatedly unsuccessful, including failing to demonstrate urgency, a lack of supporting evidence and inconsistent information, as well as the competitive nature of the grant process. The Department has prioritised those which provided evidence of the greatest need.

In the most recent CIF round, 2023/24, around 34% of applications were successful. The Department provided feedback to applicants regarding individual unsuccessful projects.

Schools sometimes change their Unique Reference Number (URN) identifier when changing school name, academy status, or moving from one responsible body to another, such as an academy trust. Each URN has been counted as a separate establishment.

The Department has allocated over £15 billion of capital funding since 2015 for essential maintenance and improvements to schools, including £1.8 billion committed in this financial year. Of this, £456 million has been allocated to 1,033 projects through the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) round for the 2023/24 financial year to 859 eligible schools and sixth form colleges.

CIF is an annual bidding round for stand alone academies, schools in smaller multi-academy trusts and voluntary aided groups, and sixth form colleges to apply for capital funding. The priority for CIF is to address significant condition need to keep buildings safe and in good working order. This includes funding projects to address health and safety issues, building compliance and poor building condition. There were 4,547 academies, sixth form colleges and voluntary aided schools eligible to apply to CIF in 2023/24.

CIF has funded over 11, 000 projects since its first round in the 2015/16 financial year, making a difference to pupils and teachers and helping to create safer schools and colleges.

Since the first round of the CIF in 2015/16, the average number of applications made to the CIF before being successfully selected for funding is 1.22 applications by an academy, 1.64 applications by a sixth form college and 0.4 applications by a voluntary aided school.

Applicants can apply for up to two projects in each application round. Not all applications will be for the same works in every round.

The highest number of separate applications made to the CIF across the nine annual rounds of the programme without being successful is 13 projects by a sixth form college, 4 projects by a voluntary aided school, and 14 projects by an academy. There are a range of reasons why some trusts are repeatedly unsuccessful, including failing to demonstrate urgency, a lack of supporting evidence and inconsistent information, as well as the competitive nature of the grant process. The Department has prioritised those which provided evidence of the greatest need.

In the most recent CIF round, 2023/24, around 34% of applications were successful. The Department provided feedback to applicants regarding individual unsuccessful projects.

Schools sometimes change their Unique Reference Number (URN) identifier when changing school name, academy status, or moving from one responsible body to another, such as an academy trust. Each URN has been counted as a separate establishment.