Government funds to repair school buildings is a tenth of what is needed, headteachers have said.
Ministers yesterday pledged a £1.8bn investment for the 2023-24 financial year to improve the condition of the school estate across England.
The government said it has already invested more than £13bn to improve the condition of school buildings since 2015.
Robert Halfon, minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education, said: “This significant investment will transform school and college buildings across the country so that they are fit for the future and can provide the best education for students, no matter where they live.”
But Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, was not impressed. “While we are always pleased to see any investment in schools and colleges, this announcement comes against a background of inadequate funding that has literally left school buildings on the point of collapse,” he said.
Department for Education capital spending has declined by 50% in real terms between 2009 and 2022, according to a House of Commons report published in January.
Barton added: “The department’s own reports have identified the risk of ‘the collapse of one or more blocks in some schools’ and put the overall backlog of repairs in England’s schools at £11.4bn.
“As such, we have to seriously question whether the funding in this latest announcement – which is the result of adding up various funding streams – is anything like enough to meet the needs of an education estate that has been shamefully neglected over the past decade.”
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