Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available to schools who wish to decarbonise their buildings but who currently do not have the means to do so.

The department recognises that decarbonising the school estate is an important part of meeting the government’s net zero commitments.

The Great British Energy Solar Partnership (GBESP) programme is supporting 250 schools and colleges to decarbonise by investing £100 million on solar panels and other energy efficiency and net zero interventions including LED lighting and electric vehicle chargers.

We are providing support for all schools and colleges to start on their journey towards net zero through our Sustainability Support Programme, which includes an online platform of guidance, tools and resources to help schools plan and deliver climate action available here: https://www.sustainabilitysupportforeducation.org.uk/.

The publicly available Department for Energy Security and Net Zero commissioned schools decarbonisation guidance, along with tools and checklists developed by Energy Systems Catapult can be found here: https://es.catapult.org.uk/tools-and-labs/public-sector-decarbonisation-guidance/developing-your-strategy/schools-resource-hub/. We will be issuing guidance to school settings in spring 2026 to help schools plan future retrofit and adaptation strategies to support decarbonisation and good education outcomes using their estates effectively.