Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 May 2022 to Question 5498, what school sites were officials in his Department referring to when they stated in emails to officials at 10 Downing Street dated 30 March 2022 and 4 April 2022 that some school sites are a risk to life.

I refer the hon. Member for Twickenham to the answer I gave on 27 May 2022 to Question 5498. There are no open school or college buildings where the department is aware of an imminent risk to life. Very occasionally, we will need to support a responsible body, such as an academy trust, which takes a decision to close part, or all, of a school for safety reasons, while the necessary remedial works are carried out.

Given the age and design life of some schools, the department expects that some school buildings will need to be replaced in future. For this reason, we have launched a 10-year School Rebuilding Programme which will deliver 500 rebuilding and refurbishment projects at schools across England, transforming education for hundreds of thousands of pupils. We also provide annual condition funding to schools and those responsible for school buildings, to ensure schools remain safe and in good working order. Since 2015, £13.1 billion in condition funding has been allocated, including £1.8 billion committed for the 2022/23 financial year. Allocations are informed by consistent data on the condition of schools, and we also provide extensive guidance on safe and effective management of the school estate.