Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what capital funding her Department has allocated to schools in (a) Mid Cheshire constituency, (b) Cheshire and (c) England in each of the last 10 years.

The department provides annual capital funding to support the education sector, which includes funding to maintain and improve the condition of the school estate and to create school places. The department’s capital budget also supports providers other than schools, and there is no separate capital budget for schools specifically. It is not possible to break all funding down by constituency or local authority.

The total Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) outturn in each financial year since 2014/15 is available in the table below. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-annual-reports.

Table 1: Total CDEL outturn in each financial year since 2014-15

The department supports schools by providing capital funding to responsible bodies, including local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided bodies to invest in improving the condition of their estates. In addition, we deliver rebuilding programmes to replace school buildings in the worst condition.

In the last ten years, under the Priority School Building Programme and the School Rebuilding Programme, the department has handed over, or committed to, ten rebuilding projects in Cheshire West and Chester and one in Cheshire East, the local authorities covering Mid-Cheshire constituency, as part of over 1000 projects across England. Individual schools in the programmes are published on GOV.UK.

It is up to the local authorities to allocate their annual school condition funding across their maintained schools, based on local knowledge of need, prioritising keeping schools safe and operational. The total allocated to Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East and their maintained schools from 2015, including School Condition Allocations and Devolved Formula Capital, as well as one-off capital funding allocations, including the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund, is available in the table below:

Table 2: Total capital funding allocated to Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East and their maintained schools from 2015 (including School Condition Allocations and Devolved Formula Capital, as well as one-off capital funding allocations, including the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund).

*includes additional one-off allocations.

Large academy trusts and voluntary aided school bodies with schools in the area will also have been allocated a school condition allocation, but allocations typically span constituency and local authority boundaries. Smaller and stand alone academy trusts and sixth form colleges have been able to bid for funding to the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF). Capital allocations and successful CIF projects are published on GOV.UK.

The annual condition funding for school buildings allocated by year across England, as well as one-off capital funding allocations, including the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund, is available in the table below:

Table 3: The annual condition funding for school buildings allocated by year across England (as well as one-off capital funding allocations, including the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund).

*includes additional one-off allocations.

Furthermore, the department provides the Basic Need capital grant to support local authorities meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient mainstream school places for children in their area. Basic Need allocations for all years from 2011/12 to 2025/26 for: i) England; ii) Cheshire West and Chester Council; and iii) Cheshire East Council are published at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations.

The department has also invested over £3 billion into school places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision since 2018 when this funding began. Of that funding, Cheshire East has received £33,482,797 and Cheshire West and Chester has received £13,633,503. As funding is allocated to local authorities, there is no constituency level data for high needs capital. Special Provision Capital Fund allocations for 2018 to 2021 are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-provision-capital-funding-for-pupils-with-ehc-plans. High Needs Provision Capital Allocation allocations for 2021 2025 are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-provision-capital-allocations.