Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new schools have been built (a) with and (b) without a sprinkler system fitted in each year since 2010-11.

All schools must comply with strict building and fire safety regulations. It has always been the case that where a fire risk assessment required for any new building recommends sprinklers are installed to keep children safe, they must be fitted.

As not all new schools are commissioned by the Department for Education we do not hold data on the number of all new schools that have been built with or without sprinklers installed.

The Department holds information on schools managed centrally by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, under the Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP). Of the 260 schools in phase one of the PSBP, 74 schools include sprinkler systems. As schools under phase two of the PSBP are still in the early design stage, it is not yet clear which may require sprinklers at this time.

The number of schools in phase one with sprinklers installed had previously been reported as 75. However, further analysis of the data has confirmed that a joint project between two primary schools in Wiltshire had inadvertently been counted as two schools, when they should only have been counted once. Therefore, we can confirm that the correct number of schools fitted with sprinklers, under phase one of PSBP, is 74

Until recently, schools developed under the Free Schools programme were managed by the individual Free School proposer groups, via their appointed building contractors. Due to this, the Department does not hold information on the number of Free School buildings with and without sprinklers installed.

All schools must have robust safety plans to follow in the event of a fire and have very strong safety features. This includes the fact that they are not occupied overnight and are generally low rise with multiple exit routes.