Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new school buildings built since 2019 meet the standards recommended in The British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People's Classroom Acoustics – recommended standards, published in 2018.

New school buildings delivered by the Department must meet the standards set in the school Output Specification Generic Design Brief. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-requirements-part-b-generic-design-brief. The guidance requires that people with disabilities, including those with a visual or hearing impairment, should not be placed at a disadvantage by the design of the buildings or grounds.

The Generic Design Brief requires that pre- and post-completion testing should be carried out in accordance with the ‘ANC Good Practice Guide for the Acoustic Testing of Schools’ published by the Association of Noise Consultants.

The Department also produces guidance specifically on acoustics which can be found in Building Bulletin 93: Acoustic Design for Schools (BB93). BB93 sets out minimum performance standards for the acoustics of school buildings and describes the normal means of demonstrating compliance with the Building Regulations. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bb93-acoustic-design-of-schools-performance-standards.

The Department does not collect data on how many new school buildings built since 2019 meet the acoustic classroom standards recommended by the British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People.