Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools that are awaiting refurbishment through the school rebuilding programme (a) have and (b) have not had those works brought forward due to the presence of RAAC.

The government has committed £1.4 billion to continue the current School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in 2025/26, reconfirming our commitment to rebuild or refurbish 518 schools and sixth form colleges across England, prioritising delivery based on need.

All schools within the programme, including those with confirmed reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, are prioritised for delivery according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed and efficiency of delivery. The department also takes into account the suitability and longevity of any temporary accommodation schools and sixth form colleges may have in place. Expected delivery timeframes have been communicated to all responsible bodies and specific start dates are communicated at least a month in advance of the project entering delivery. Since we communicated these timescales, we have not made any significant changes to them to move start dates around.

Just under half of SRP projects have started various stages of delivery activity and the department plans to increase the number of existing school rebuilding projects to 100, of which delivery begins in the next financial year so work can start more quickly.

Once a school enters delivery, a project team carries out a feasibility study which determines the scope of the works. SRP projects typically take 3 to 5 years to complete.