Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to encourage schools to instal solar panels; and whether she plans to allow schools to borrow money to finance the purchase of solar panels.

The Government welcomes schools taking action to play their part in reducing carbon emissions. Solar panels could be a step towards this.

In April the Government published guidance to schools on the benefits of solar technology. The publication, Power to the Pupils,[1] includes practical information for schools on finance and installation.

There are, however, restrictions on school borrowing, because all spending by schools can have an impact on the public sector’s deficit and the public sector net debt.

Schools have found alternatives to commercial borrowing to fund solar photovoltaic (PV) projects including community share issues and crowd funding. Some local authorities have also set up schemes to help maintained schools meet the upfront cost of a project.

Taken together, this range of funding approaches should allow any school to install solar panels where they can see a value-for-money case.

[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/power-to-the-pupils-solar-pv-for-schools