Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Department's Answer to Question 36401, answered on 27th October 2026, what discussions her Department has had with local authorities on encouraging schools to apply for funding ahead of the roll-out.

The new Renewal and Retrofit Programme (RRP) will improve the condition of school and college buildings and increase resilience to climate change so that buildings can last for decades to come and are net zero ready. The programme will initially focus on replacing the worst-condition, life-expired temporary buildings alongside installation of energy generation and efficiency measures in the 2026/27 academic year. There was no application process and projects are currently being selected. The department is working with responsible bodies for those projects, including local authorities for maintained schools.

As the programme expands from 2027, it will support a broader range of renewal projects while considering measures to improve resilience to flooding and overheating. The department will set out further details in due course on how schools and colleges can join the programme when it is expanded from 2027.

The department presented the details of the RRP programme with a group of local authorities at the Education Estates conference in October.