Ian Lavery – 2023 Parliamentary Question on School Rebuilding Programme Funding in Northumberland

The parliamentary question asked by Ian Lavery, the Labour MP for Wansbeck, in the House of Commons on 16 January 2023.

Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of school rebuilding programme funding allocated to schools in Northumberland.

The Minister of State, Department for Education (Nick Gibb)

Two schools in Northumberland are prioritised for the school rebuilding programme, including Ringway Primary School in the hon. Member’s constituency. Schools were nominated by local authorities and trusts, and selected according to the condition of their buildings following a robust assessment process. This is in addition to the £5.8 million of school condition allocation funding for Northumberland County Council in this financial year.

Ian Lavery

The Department’s own report now reclassifies the risk of school buildings collapsing as critical and very urgent. Despite the sterling efforts of headteachers and staff to keep school buildings in decent condition, many children in my constituency are taught in buildings far below the standards they should expect. Despite what the Minister has just said, can he tell the House when adequate funding will be made readily available to bring all schools in my constituency up to scratch?

Nick Gibb

We have allocated £13 billion since 2015 to school buildings and maintenance. In May 2022, for example, the Government announced the outcome of the condition improvement fund bids for 2022-23. That will provide £500 million for 1,400 projects at 1,100 schools and sixth forms. The CIF is for individual schools and groups of schools. In addition, £1.1 billion of school condition allocations was made to local authorities and large groups of academies. We take this issue very seriously and we want to make sure that all our schools are in the best possible condition for pupils to be able to learn.