Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Question 44 of the oral evidence given by her Department's Chief Operating Officer to the Committee of Public Accounts on 13 July 2023, HC1338, for what reason her Department has not published the full results of the Condition Data Collection 1 survey.

The full school level data from the first Condition Data Collection programme was published in the House Libraries on 20 July 2023. This is accessible at: https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/depositedpaper/2285521/details.

It is the responsibility of academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary aided school bodies, who work with the schools they run to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools, to alert the Department if there is a serious concern with a building.

If the Department is made aware of a building that poses serious imminent risks to the safety of pupils or staff, immediate action is taken to ensure their safety and remediate the situation. There are no open areas within schools or college buildings where the Department knows of an imminent risk to life.

The Department helps responsible bodies to meet their responsibilities by providing significant capital funding for their schools, delivering rebuilding programmes and providing guidance and support. The Department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping school buildings safe and in good working order, including £1.8 billion committed for 2023/24. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme will transform buildings at 500 schools, prioritising poor condition and potential safety issues.

The Condition Data Collection (CDC) data helps the Department understand the condition of the school estate in England and how it is changing over time, and the data is part of the evidence base used to make school condition funding allocations.

CDC was one of the largest data collection programmes in the UK public sector.

The data was collected between 2017/19 and reflects a visual snapshot of the estate as it was and therefore does not reflect the current condition of the school buildings. In May 2021, the Department published the key findings of the CDC programme in the report ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey – Key Findings’, which can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf. The report provides school condition data at national and regional level.