Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department made available to Enfield Council through the School Condition Allocation in each of the last ten years in real terms.

Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Over £15 billion has been allocated since 2015 to improve the condition of the estate. In 2023/24, the Department has announced £1.8 billion for improving school buildings, including £1.1 billion in school condition allocations for Local Authorities, large multi-academy trusts and large Voluntary Aided bodies. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate.

As part of this, Enfield Local Authority has been allocated a School Condition Allocation of £4,937,946 for the 2023/24 financial year to spend in maintained schools. Large multi-academy trusts and large Voluntary Aided school bodies with schools in Enfield will also have been allocated a School Condition Allocation to spend on their school buildings, whilst smaller and single academy trusts were invited to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund, with outcomes now published on GOV.UK including four schools in the Enfield Local Authority area.

Schools maintained by Enfield Local Authority have also been allocated £435,674 in devolved formula capital to spend on their own capital priorities, whilst schools in the Local Authority across all types of responsible body have been allocated £1,227,483.

As well as allocating condition funding, the Department also delivers major rebuilding programmes to improve or replace school buildings. Five schools have been announced in the School Rebuilding Programme, which will transform buildings at those schools by rebuilding or refurbishing poor condition blocks, providing modern designs which are net zero carbon in operation. In addition, four schools within the Enfield Local Authority were included in the Priority School Building Programme.

It is not possible to make direct, like for like comparisons between annual allocations over time as the methodology used, number of pupils/schools funded and data on the condition of those schools changes over time. It is worth noting that Enfield has seen a significant drop of approximately 40% in the number of schools for which it is responsible over the last ten years.