Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to (a) assess the effect of energy efficiency retrofitting of schools on (i) local jobs and (ii) carbon emissions and (b) and encourage schools to retrofit.
The Department supports sustainability through its capital funding and programmes, both to reduce carbon and save schools money on energy. The Department has allocated over £7.4 billion in condition funding since 2015, the majority of which enables local authorities, multi-academy trusts and schools to determine how it is invested in maintaining and improving their school buildings, including energy efficiency measures. More broadly, we are working with colleagues across Government, including the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on carbon reduction and energy efficiency and developing thinking on how future capital programmes can contribute further.
In addition to this, we announced on 29 June a commitment to a multi-wave, 10 year school rebuilding programme. Full details of these projects will be confirmed in the autumn and further funding will be set out as part of the Spending Review.
This will replace poor condition and ageing school buildings with modern, energy efficient designs, transforming education for thousands of pupils and helping to meet the Government’s net-zero target and to tackle climate change.