Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department is making plans to offer support for schools that require air conditioning or other cooling technologies for continued function in amber and red weather warnings.

The department takes periods of hot weather and heatwaves seriously and has published a climate risk assessment at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/impact-of-uk-climate-change-risk-on-the-delivery-of-education/summary-of-findings-in-relation-to-3-climate-risks-overheating-flooding-and-water-scarcity.

The department has also published guidance on hot weather at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/hot-weather-and-heatwaves-guidance-for-schools-and-other-education-settings/. This advice draws on guidance from the UK Health Security Agency.

We are supporting settings by strengthening resilience across the education estate through a long‑term strategy. This includes a new £710 million Renewal and Retrofit Programme to improve condition and climate resilience investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034/35 in capital maintenance and improvement of schools and colleges. We are also investing almost £20 billion in the School Rebuilding Programme through to 2034/35, delivering climate‑resilient buildings at over 750 schools. Alongside this, the Sustainability Support Programme is helping education settings address risks such as overheating.