Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that those schools that have been underfunded relative to the national average for many years have priority in any applications for school building improvements.

The Department fund school building improvements through a combination of formula-based payments (School Condition Allocations and Devolved Formula Capital), and bid-based systems (the Condition Improvement Fund and the Priority School Building Programme). In order to secure the best value for money, both types of funding prioritise the buildings with the most severe condition need, rather than looking at other funding received by the institutions in question. Prioritisation may be informed by a combination of the Department’s building surveys and condition information contained in any bid.

School Condition Allocations and Devolved Formula Capital:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-allocations

Condition Improvement Fund:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund

Priority School Building Programme:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/priority-school-building-programme-psbp