Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans for the accountability arrangements for the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy to become operational.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As committed to in the Department for Education’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, the Department will produce a progress report on the implementation of this strategy. The report is anticipated to be published in December 2023.
Accountability arrangements are already in place through the Department’s official governance.
£170 million has been allocated to the Sustainability and Climate Change portfolio between 2022/23 and 2024/25. Of this, £138 million (81%) is part of the Department’s innovate, test, invest process to identify measures to make education buildings more sustainable or more resilient to climate change. This will ensure evidence is at the heart of decision making.
The remaining 19% is focused on cross cutting initiatives to drive systems change, including the National Education Nature Park, support to schools and colleges to put in place climate action plans and setting up systems to assess the risk of climate change and report emissions.
The Department also continues to work with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to help schools and colleges access the £1.4 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to improve sustainability. From October 2022, up to £635 million has been made available through Phase 3b of the scheme for installing low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures in public buildings over the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, with a minimum of 30% going to schools and colleges. This will help to cut emissions and save on energy bills. Phase 3b closed on 31 October 2022 and Phase 3c is expected to open for applications in autumn 2023.
New school buildings delivered by the Department, such as through the School Rebuilding Programme, are designed and fully funded to be net zero carbon in operation and more resilient to the effects of climate change.
Capital funding is also allocated every year to improve the condition of school buildings, including improving energy efficiency. The Department allocated £1.8 billion for financial year 2023/24, including funding for Local Authorities to allocate to their maintained schools.
In 2022 to 2023, eligible schools and sixth-form colleges received an allocation from an additional £447 million of capital funding to improve energy efficiency. This is part of an additional £500 million of capital funding for schools and further education institutions in England.
Capital allocations are available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information his Department holds on changes in the level of (a) carbon emissions and (b) energy bills in schools that had retrofitting measures fitted through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Published estimates of carbon savings from Phase 1, 2 and 3 of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-and-emissions-projections-2021-to-2040.
These carbon impacts are forecasts based on economic modelling. Financial savings were not projected as these were not included in application data.
There are two ongoing evaluations of PSDS, covering process, impact, and value-for-money evaluations of Phases 1 to 3. Findings of these evaluations, including consideration of carbon impacts and energy cost savings will be published in due course.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the Government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Summary Reports for (a) Phase 1 and (b) Phase 2, for what reason 628 for Phase 1 (b) 83 for Phase 2 difference in the number of applications from schools and the umber of grants awarded to schools.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme attracts a huge amount of interest and a high number of applications from public sector organisations including schools. Our delivery partner, Salix Finance Limited, reviews all applications through rigorous quality checks and technical assessments to provide assurance that the projects are deliverable.
Applications that are successful in assessment are then awarded grants based on a first come, first served basis, until the available budget is fully allocated.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to help improve the energy efficiency of (a) schools, (b) NHS buildings, (c) leisure facilities and (d) local authority public buildings.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As set out in the Net Zero Strategy, the Government has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037. To support this, £2.5 billion is being invested through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme over the financial years 2020/21 to 2024/25 to provide grants for public sector bodies in England to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures. A further £61 million has been made available through the Low Carbon Skills fund between FY2020/21 and 2023/24 to help public sector bodies develop decarbonisation plans for their buildings.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to require all state and independent schools to develop a school travel plan.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not have plans to legislate to require all schools to develop school travel plans, but Local Authorities have a statutory duty to promote sustainable home to school travel.
The Modeshift STARS education scheme, which is supported by the Department for Transport and Active Travel England, supports schools and Local Authorities to develop and monitor school travel plans. More information can be found here: http://www.modeshiftstars.org/.
The Department’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy commits to support the Department for Transport in delivering initiatives to increase active and safe travel to school to improve wellbeing, reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality, such as Bikeability, Walk to School Outreach and School Streets.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have (a) applied for capital funding for energy efficiency upgrades in each of the last five years and (b) been granted that funding.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has allocated over £13 billion in condition funding since 2015 for maintaining and improving school facilities in England, including improving energy efficiency.
All new buildings delivered through the School Rebuilding Programme will also be energy efficient and designed to be net zero carbon in operation.
In addition, schools can access capital funding for energy efficiency and carbon reduction upgrades in schools through Salix Finance Ltd., a non-departmental public body under the sponsorship of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Prior to 31 March 2021, schools could access Salix funding through three routes: (1) the Salix Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme for maintained schools, (2) Salix Energy Efficiency Fund (SEEF) for academies, with applications administered by Salix, and (3) through the Department’s Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).
From the financial year 2018/19, the Department managed funding of schemes (2) and (3) as follows:
Year | Applied for SEEF project | Successful Schools and Colleges | Proportion Successful |
2018/19 | 459 | 277 | 60% |
2020/21 | 331 | 179 | 54% |
Year | Applied for Salix Loan as part of CIF bid | Successful Schools and Colleges | Proportion Successful |
2018/19 | 467 | 184 | 39% |
2019/20 | 444 | 194 | 44% |
2020/21 | 568 | 348 | 61% |
2021/22 | 415 | 209 | 50% |
Since 1 April 2021, the Department has continued to work with BEIS to help schools and colleges access the £1.4 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funded by BEIS and administered through Salix. Up to £635 million was made available through phase 3b of the scheme, in October 2022, for installing low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures in public buildings, with a minimum of 30% going to schools and colleges. This will help to cut emissions and save on energy bills.
In the CIF round for 2022/23, the Department has introduced a new assessment criterion of environmental sustainability, worth a maximum of four points of the 100 points available in assessment. Applications made and awarded were as follows:
CIF round | Applied with 'Increase in Energy Efficiency' = "Yes" in Application Form | Successful Schools and Colleges | Proportion Successful |
2022/23 | 1861 | 957 | 51% |
The Department is now assessing applications submitted to the CIF round for 2023/24 and will announce the outcomes in May 2023 at the earliest.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will introduce specific funding to support schools with installing renewable electricity generation schemes on their estate.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department continues to work with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to help education settings access the £1.4 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. From October this year, up to £635 million has been made available through Phase 3B of the scheme for installing low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures in public buildings, with a minimum of 30% going to education settings. This will help to cut emissions and save on energy bills.
Since 2015, the Department has allocated over £13 billion in capital funding to improve the condition of school buildings, which can support improvements to energy efficiency. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme will transform 500 schools over the next decade, with all new buildings being net zero carbon in operation. They will achieve this, in part by installing electricity generation on their estate. Any new funding will be determined at future fiscal events.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to decrease energy costs in schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to reducing energy use in new and existing buildings, and to meeting the legislative net zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050.
The department’s capital funding and programmes help both to reduce carbon emissions and to save schools money on operating costs, through delivering new school buildings and improving the existing school estate.
The department recognises that schools will be facing cost pressures in the coming months, particularly due to the increase in energy prices. We are looking carefully at how this will impact schools and are considering what additional support we could offer.
The department has contacted all schools in England to get basic data on their current and future energy tariffs to better understand how they have been affected by recent energy price increases, so we can consider what additional support we can offer. The survey closed on 2 June 2022.
The department’s schools resource management tools include recommended deals for energy costs and ancillary services relating to energy. We will also update and strengthen guidance on a regular basis to inform schools of the market and commercial position, with practical advice on exiting existing and entering new contracts, available here: https://www.get-help-buying-for-schools.service.gov.uk/procurement-support. The ‘get help buying for schools’ service will also be able to offer support to schools in switching and entering new contracts and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-a-dfe-approved-framework-for-your-school.
The department knows that every school’s circumstances are different, and where schools are in serious financial difficulty, they should contact their local authority or the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new schools built in England in each of the last 10 years have achieved net zero status.
Answered by Robin Walker
Over the past ten years, the department has designed schools that are good quality, easy to manage and maintain, and deliver low energy solutions.
In November 2021, the department launched its first specification to deliver schools that are net zero carbon in operation. All schools that are procured under this specification will not only be net zero in operation but will also incorporate a wider range of measures to tackle climate change. The department’s full specification can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/school-design-and-construction#output-specification
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their guidance to keep windows in classrooms open to improve ventilation, what assessment they have made of (1) the amount of extra carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere because of higher energy use in all schools, and (2) the average increase in carbon dioxide emissions in (a) primary schools, and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the department has provided guidance to settings on how to manage ventilation, in addition to providing over 360,000 CO2 monitors to state-funded education providers in England. As well as helping to identify areas that are poorly ventilated, CO2 monitors can be useful to help education providers balance good ventilation with keeping classrooms warm.
Ensuring adequate ventilation does not need to be at the expense of keeping classrooms warm. Education providers do not need to keep windows fully open at all times. Opening windows regularly for 10 minutes, or a small amount continuously, can still improve ventilation substantially. The department’s guidance has also been clear that when CO2 monitors indicate good ventilation, there is no need to open additional windows. The guidance can be found in full here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-ventilation-of-indoor-spaces-to-stop-the-spread-of-coronavirus.
Maintaining adequate ventilation remains the responsibility of individual education providers. The department does not hold the information requested on the increase in energy usage or carbon emissions due to opening windows. This will vary according to a range of factors, including how individual education providers manage ventilation in their estate.