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<p>It is the responsibility of those who run schools - academy trusts, Local Authorities and voluntary aided school bodies - to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the Department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the Department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.</p><p>The Department has committed £1.8 billion of capital funding for the financial year 2023/24 to improve the condition of school buildings, as part of over £15 billion allocated since 2015. In addition, the Department will transform poor condition buildings at 500 schools and colleges through the School Rebuilding Programme, including Cramlington Learning Village in Blyth Valley constituency and Ribston Hall High School in Gloucester Constituency.</p><p>Local Authorities, larger multi academy trusts and larger voluntary aided bodies are eligible to receive an annual School Condition Allocation (SCA) to prioritise on improving the condition of their schools. Smaller and stand alone academy trusts, small voluntary aided school bodies and colleges are able to bid to the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), an annual bidding round, to apply for funding for specific capital projects. More information can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund</a>.</p><p>Allocations to improve the condition of schools take into account consistent data from the Condition Data Collection (CDC1) to ensure funding is weighted to reflect the relative condition of school buildings. The Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) is in progress to collect updated data on the condition of schools in England. Reports from the programme are shared with schools and responsible bodies to help inform their plans, alongside their own condition surveys and checks.</p><p>Schools also receive funding to spend on their capital priorities or to contribute to larger projects through an annual Devolved Formula Capital allocation (DFC). Details of SCA and DFC allocations for the current financial year are available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding#funding-allocations-for-the-2022-to-2023-financial-year" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding#funding-allocations-for-the-2022-to-2023-financial-year</a> and here: <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/*/https:/www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-allocations" target="_blank">https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/*/https:/www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-allocations</a>.</p><p>For the 2023/24 financial year, Cramlington Learning Village, St Aidan’s Church of England Memorial Primary School, Lorton School, Ribston Hall High School and Peatmoor Community Primary School were all eligible to bid to the CIF. Applications for CIF are robustly assessed against the published criteria, prioritising need and feedback is provided for unsuccessful applications. All successful CIF bids are published here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund</a>.</p><p>Where the Department is alerted to significant safety issues with a building that cannot be managed with local resources, it provides additional support on a case by case basis. CIF eligible schools can apply for urgent capital support throughout the year if they have urgent building issues that need to be addressed. The Department also provides extensive guidance for responsible bodies to help them manage their estates effectively through resources such as the Good Estate Management for Schools guidance.</p><p>The Department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions. The Government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.</p> |