Contracts have been awarded for 271 out of 272 schools in phase two of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP2).

The National School Delivery Cost Benchmarking report published in October 2022 shows the average cost per square metre of new school building projects built using the Departmental construction framework between 2012 and 2020. The report can be found here: https://documents.hants.gov.uk/property-services/NationalSchoolDeliveryBenchmarkingreport.pdf. The data presented in this report also shows that the Department has been delivering building projects in primary schools between 13 to 30% more cheaply than Local Authorities over the time frame of 2012 to 2020.

The Department has continuously improved its approach to building schools since the Sebastian James review of Capital in 2011, which highlighted many issues with the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme introduced under the last Government in 2004. The review identified that projects delivered under the programme were overly bureaucratic and not designed to target poor condition, did not support high quality, did not meet standardised specifications that work for education, and did not deliver value for money and economies of scale from central procurement and delivery. These are all are now prioritised when building schools. Millions of pounds have also been spent addressing failures in design left by the BSF programme to ensure schools are suitable to deliver an effective education.

The National Audit Office’s published report on Capital Funding for Schools found that, on average, whole school rebuilds delivered by the Priority School Building Programme were around one third cheaper per square metre than schools built under the Building Schools for the Future Programme.

The School Rebuilding Programme builds on the success of the Priority School Building Programme. It is delivering schools to an even better specification, with buildings that are designed to be carbon net zero in operation and more resilient to the effects of climate change. The sample size for completed projects delivered by the School Rebuilding Programme is currently too small to draw any conclusions on the average cost of this programme.

There were four schools from Enfield Council included in the Priority School Building Programme, the predecessor to the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP), with a total funding of over £14 million. The projects at Eldon Primary School, Walker Primary School, Durants School and Brimsdown Primary School have all been completed and the schools are able to teach in modern facilities that will inspire generations of pupils.

The SRP was announced in 2020 and will transform buildings at 500 schools and sixth form colleges over the next decade. It will rebuild or refurbish poor condition buildings, providing modern designs, with new buildings being net zero carbon in operation. Five schools from within Enfield Council area have been selected for SRP, announced in 2022. These schools are being scheduled for delivery, and the funding for each project will depend on the works at each school. This will be determined when the scope and delivery plans for each project are developed.

Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department, and over £15 billion has been allocated since 2015 to improve the condition of the estate. In 2023/24, the Department has announced £1.8 billion for improving school buildings, including £1.1 billion in school condition allocations for Local Authorities, large multi-academy trusts and large Voluntary Aided bodies. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate.

The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) included the procurement of five Private Finance (PF2) projects, which the Department entered directly with the private sector. There are no Revenue Support Grant payments made in relation to these projects.

No schools from Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council were included in the Priority School Building Programme, although the area has benefitted from the successor scheme, the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP).

SRP was announced in 2020 and will transform buildings at 500 schools and sixth form colleges over the next decade. It will rebuild or refurbish poor condition buildings, providing modern designs, with new buildings being net zero carbon in operation. Two schools from the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council area have been selected for SRP, announced in December 2022. These schools are being scheduled for delivery, and the funding for each project will depend on the works at each school. This will be determined when the scope and delivery plans for each project are developed.

The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) is rebuilding and/or refurbishing school buildings in the very worst condition across the country at 537 schools. A list of these is available at GOV.UK. Contractors for the programme were procured through Department for Education construction frameworks. Information about this is available on GOV.UK.

We do not have a central record of any complaints made relating to PSBP. Any complaints and feedback received are treated seriously and acted on accordingly.

There are 3 private finance 2 (PF2) schools in Gateshead (Lingey House Primary, Front Street Primary and Roman Road Primary) in the Priority School Building Programme privately financed North East batch.

Information on private finance initiative (PFI) and PF2 data for current and in procurement projects published by HM Treasury can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-finance-initiative-and-private-finance-2-projects-2017-summary-data.

Further data relating to PFI schools in Gateshead is held by Gateshead Council.

Information on private finance initiative and private finance 2 data for current and in procurement projects published by HM Treasury can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-finance-initiative-and-private-finance-2-projects-2017-summary-data.

The schools within the Priority School Building Programme private finance North West batch (signed in 2015) which are located in Cheshire West & Chester are Blacon High School, Dee Point Primary School and JH Godwin Primary School.

There are 2 schools in Blackpool which are included in the Priority School Building Programme privately financed North West batch signed in 2015.

The Government attaches the highest priority to the safety of pupils and staff. All schools have to follow strict fire safety regulations, including having a fire risk assessment designed to ensure they are as safe as possible and well prepared in the event of a fire.

Sprinklers must be fitted where they are deemed necessary to keep pupils and staff safe, following an assessment of risk at the design stage, or to meet local planning requirements. All new school building projects must comply with building regulations, including on fire safety, and this must be independently checked by Building Control or an Approved Inspector before buildings are occupied.

The number of new schools built by the Department under phase one of the Priority Schools Building Programme and open as of February 2019, was 253. Sprinklers are fitted in 77 of these schools.

253 of the 260 schools in phase one of the Priority School Building Programme are open in new or refurbished buildings. The remaining 7 schools have site specific issues causing the building projects to take longer.

The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) is spending £4.4 billion on rebuilding or refurbishing those buildings in the worst condition at 537 schools across England.

The investment is being targeted more effectively than before, with investment decisions based on a comprehensive picture of the needs of the school estate. In doing so we are maximising the impact of every pound of taxpayers’ money.

Under PSBP, timescales to start building works have been cut by up to two years and the average cost is a third less than under Building Schools for the Future (BSF).

All schools, including those that were due for rebuilding under BSF, were invited to apply to the PSBP. Successful schools were prioritised for the programme based on their condition need.

The vast majority of schools within the first phase of the programme will be delivered by the end of 2017, two years earlier than originally planned.

The Department for Education will invest over £24 billion on school buildings between 2016-17 and 2020-21 financial years, which includes funding for new school places, including the free schools programme, and funding to maintain and improve the condition of the school estate, including the Priority School Building Programme. The Department confirms annual funding allocations for specific programmes in the spring for the financial year ahead, based on the latest forecasts of programme delivery.

The Department’s Supplementary Estimate Memorandum for 2016-17 financial year sets the budget for the Priority School Building Programme as £1,030 million and that for Free Schools, University Technical Colleges and Studio Schools as £1,116 million. Spending plans for 2017-18 will be published alongside the forthcoming 2017-18 Main Estimate. The Memorandum is available here:

https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/Education/Department-for-Education-Supplementary-Estimate-2016-17-Memorandum.pdf

Detailed spending plans for future financial years will be set out in future Main and Supplementary Estimates. This will include the Department’s plans for the £216 million funding for school maintenance referred to in table 2.1 of the Spring Budget 2017.[1]

[1] The £230 million referred to in item 3 of the table includes Barnett consequentials.

What assessment she has made of the progress of the Priority School Building programme 2.

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the way in which he has fought for improvements to the Marjorie McClure school, which was visited by my hon. Friend the Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families. It was successful in its bid, and it is already in the feasibility phase. The Education Funding Agency has started to identify the options available to address the condition of the building, so that we can say that we do know where and we do know when.

The Marjorie McClure school in Chislehurst is a special school that deals with young people with some of the most profound and complex disabilities. It is a magnificent school, but every year it has to turn applicants away because it simply does not have the size to cope with the numbers, and neither do the other two special schools in the borough. The school was delighted to be successful in its application, which was announced in 2015, but the first visit from anyone from the Education Funding Agency to the school was only in February of

this year. Will the Minister see what can be done to expedite this particularly special and unique set of circumstances?

There is £420 million available under the healthy schools capital programme. That is all part of £23 billion that we are spending between now and 2020-21 to maintain, rebuild and replace buildings in the worst condition. None of that would be possible if we did not have the strong economy that we have today and that we did not have when the hon. Gentleman’s party was in power.

Headteacher Steve Campbell who runs The Hollins, a fantastic state school with great results in my constituency, has had problems trying to provide better sports facilities. He was supposed to have Better Schools for the Future funding in 2010, but that was pulled. It now seems that there is no hope of the children in this outstanding school getting decent sports facilities. Why is that?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. This is a £250 million package that was recently announced, and it is part of a capital spending commitment by this Government to ensure that we have the right fabric of schools in our system. Again, that was possible only by our having a strong economy.

I thank the Government for the new fund that has been made available for capital projects on special schools, £2.5 million of which is coming to Nottinghamshire to help rebuild the Newark Orchard school in my constituency. Will the Government go to greater efforts to publicise that fund so that colleagues and constituents across the country who are worried about special schools in poor condition know that it is there for them?