§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)My honourable friend the Minister for School Standards (Mr David Miliband) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am today announcing details of the allocation of schools capital over the spending review period, for 2006–07 to 2007–08. Investment in schools is at record levels, and every maintained school and every education authority and diocese in England will benefit from our capital programmes. As well as continued substantial investment in primary schools, we will now drive forward significantly the modernisation of the secondary school estate, further to my Statement of 12 February announcing the first wave of authorities to benefit from the building schools for the future programme.
My announcement will support the five-year strategy for educational improvement which my right honourable friend the Secretary of State announced in July, and continues and increases the largest sustained programme of capital investment in schools which this country has ever seen. From an inadequate base of under £700 million in 1996–97, government support for capital investment in schools has risen to £4.9 billion this year, will be £5.5 billion next year, 24WS £5.8 billion in 2006–07 and will reach £6.3 billion by 2007–08. This is a ninefold increase since this Government came to power. The table at the end of this Written Statement give details of our funding proposals.
Since this Government came to office, we have provided substantial investment for schools—£20 billion up to this year—so that the vast backlog of neglect and repairs which made many schools virtually uninhabitable has been addressed. We have revised and improved our design and environmental guidelines for schools to reflect the standards-driven needs of 21st century teaching and learning, and to capture the benefits of ICT development. We have increased expectations on environmental quality, diversity and inclusion. We are placing schools at the centre of their communities, offering extended facilities and regaining the position that they held in earlier years, but lost as their buildings decayed.
We have made very substantial progress in recent years. But much remains to do, to bring all schools up to the standards that we expect for our children. All schools and authorities will benefit from this capital programme, which provides a further £17 billion investment over the next three years.
Importantly, all schools will continue to get their own direct capital to improve their buildings. This will rise from £800 million in 2005–06 to over £1 billion in 2007–08, when the typical primary school will get over £34,000 and a typical secondary £113,000. This programme will, from 2006–07, include schools' direct funding for improving their ICT equipment, part of the £1.1 billion of ICT investment in 2006–07 and 2007–08. We will also continue to provide authorities with needs-related funding for their local priorities; £2.2 billion will be allocated by formulae to authorities across 2006–07 and 2007–08 from the modernisation, basic need and schools access initiative programmes. From this announcement, authorities will have three-year certainty on the bulk of their capital funding, and it will as usual be delivered through the single capital pot to enable authorities to plan flexibly to meet their schools' needs.
To ensure that there is flexibility within the overall programme, we aim to increase the funding available to the targeted capital fund, to £500 million a year by 2007–08. This will ensure that we can support authorities which have exceptional capital needs, including exceptional pupil growth through the basic need safety valve. An equitable share of the capital settlement of over £900 million will also be provided for the needs of schools in the voluntary-aided sector in these years.
I am announcing today allocations from the targeted capital fund for 2005–06, of £233 million for a total of 51 local authority projects and 20 projects in voluntary-aided schools. These cover a wide range of projects, including accommodation for pupils with special needs, sports facilities, extended schools facilities, modernisation of teaching accommodation, replacement of primary school buildings, and two new voluntary-aided schools—one Jewish and one Islamic. 25WS I am providing a further £12 million of additional basic need funding where there is exceptional growth in pupil numbers in Haringey, Cambridge, Thurrock, and Milton Keynes.
I am also announcing today the 20 new authorities which will be included in the second and third waves of building schools for the future (BSF), which aims to renew every secondary school in the country. The geographical areas, including 230 schools in total, have been prioritised according to relative educational and social need, as measured by pupils' GCSE attainment and eligibility for free school meals; and the planning and financial requirements of the programme. These allocations bring the total number of authorities included in the programme by 2007–08 to 39—over a quarter of all authorities.
As we made clear in the five-year strategy for children and learners published in July, BSF plans will be assessed according to rigorous school improvement criteria and funding will not be released until the Government and local people are satisfied that they meet the full potential for transforming standards. This includes considering academies and other options for new schools in their plans. As we said in the five-year strategy, the Government will not stand by and allow local authorities to sustain failure by refusing to engage with academies where they can meet parental demand for good school places. This policy is already being applied to wave one authorities, where most BSF plans are yet to be approved, and will be applied to all the further waves being announced today.
Further, I am announcing our ambition that, by 2011, all local authorities will either have a major secondary rebuilding project under way through BSF, with at least three of their secondary schools included, or else have the resources to rebuild at least one of their secondary schools in greatest need through the academies programme and the targeted capital fund. By 2016, major rebuilding and remodelling will have started in every local authority in line with BSF plans developed by them. Final allocations for wave four onwards of BSF are of course subject to future public spending decisions and will be confirmed in future spending reviews.
I am allocating over £830 million funding in 2006–07 and 2007–08 to support the development of additional academies to work to our target of having 200 open or in procurement by 2010. 1 am also providing a further £70 million to reach our target of universal specialism in secondary schools by the end of the period.
My officials will give all authorities an indication of when they may expect to start in the BSF programme so that they can plan confidently and use their other funding efficiently before they get this major investment. We will work with every authority to see how these commitments and their own financial flexibilities through delegated funding and prudential borrowing can be combined to deliver maximum early progress on BSF.
We have decided to allocate schools capital to a new joined-up budget for 16-to-19 provision in schools and colleges. The Learning and Skills Council will also 26WS contribute to the combined pot, which it will administer, worth in total £120 million in 2006–07 and £180 million in 2007–08.
Schools which have robust sustainable travel plans put in place will be able to access a further £40 million of devolved formula capital over the period.
I am providing all honourable Members with detailed information on all of today's allocations which affect the local authorities in their constituencies.
Table: Schools capital funding from 2005–06 until 2007–08 (figures in £ million)
2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 Schools devolved funding 805 1,000 1,050 LEA delegated funding: modernisation 602 602 602 Note 1 LEA delegated funding: basic need 590 400 400 Note 2 Schools access initiative 84 84 84 Note 3 BSF programme 2,118 2,177 2,240 Note 4 Academies 207 365 467 Other ICT 459 249 284 Note 5 VA schools 352 444 473 Specialist schools 56 35 35 LSC 16–19 budget contribution 0 70 100 Targeted capital fund 200 300 500 Sustainable transport 20 20 20 Other programmes 22 9 10 Total 5,515 5,755 6,265 Notes:
1. Modernisation is allocated on pupil numbers and relative building need from survey data
2. Basic need is allocated on pupil numbers and projected pupil growth
3. Schools access initiative is allocated on pupil numbers
4. Includes £1.2 billion/£1.25 billion/£13 billion of PFI credits
5. 2006–07 and 2007–08 figures exclude ICT capital delivered directly to schools as devolved funding.