Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of permitting pay-as-you-save soft loans from community energy enterprises into solar panels on schools.

This government continues to look for opportunities to support schools in the growth of renewables in order to reduce emissions and energy bills. Options like Great British Energy’s scheme, which will provide funding to put rooftop solar panels on around 200 schools, provide a way forward.

The department has considered the soft solar loan scheme models being offered by community energy enterprises. However, commercial loans by schools impact on public debt, and broader fiscal considerations at this time around accountability and achieving best value for investment mean schemes of this type cannot currently be supported.