Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of issuing schools with an energy efficiency assessment and score for the purposes of prioritising schools for energy saving measures.

The department supports energy efficiency improvements through a range of capital funding allocations and programmes, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and saving schools money on energy. Schools and responsible bodies have been provided with guidance on energy efficiency such as minimising energy, water and waste within the Good Estate Management for Schools manual. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools.

In June 2020, the government announced a new school rebuilding programme aimed at replacing poor condition and ageing school buildings. All new school buildings delivered through the programme will be net zero carbon in operation, as well as responding appropriately to the wider aspects of climate change adaptation such as overheating risk, biodiversity net gain and flood resilience.

Schools and those responsible for school buildings have access to condition funding to maintain and improve the school estate, which can be used to invest in improving energy efficiency in schools. Since 2015, the department has allocated £11.3 billion on school condition, including £1.8 billion in the current 2021/22 financial year.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy set up the £1 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) in 2020 which provided grants for eligible public sector bodies, including schools, to fund energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures across their estate. Phase 3 of the PSDS will be open for applications from 6 October. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-sector-decarbonisation-scheme.

The department is working across government to understand the most appropriate way to address climate change and improve energy efficiency in support of the legal commitment to net zero by 2050. We will continue to review the support and advice to schools. Further details on capital funding and prioritisation for the period beyond this financial year will be set out at the next Spending Review.