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<p>Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department in order
that they support a high-quality education for all children.</p><p> </p><p>Responsibility
for keeping buildings safe and well-maintained lies with schools and their responsible
bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided bodies. The
department supports them by providing access to annual capital funding, delivering
major rebuilding programmes, and offering guidance and support.</p><p> </p><p>The
department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools in England
safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in 2023/24. This funding is informed
by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. Devolved administrations
received funding for education through the Barnett formula at the Spending Review
2021.</p><p> </p><p>Responsible bodies in England, depending on their size and type,
are either eligible to receive annual school condition allocation (SCA) funding to
use on improving the condition of their schools, or are instead able to bid into the
Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) each year for specific capital projects. Schools
in England also receive funding to spend on their capital priorities or contribute
to larger projects through an annual devolved formula capital allocation (DFC). Details
on SCA, DFC and CIF can be found on GOV.UK.</p><p> </p><p>CIF eligible schools can
apply for urgent capital support at any time in the year, if they have urgent building
issues that need to be addressed. Details on how to apply for urgent capital support
are available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund</a>.</p><p>
</p><p>The department provides extensive guidance for responsible bodies to help them
make effective spending decisions and manage their estates strategically and safely
through resources such as the ‘Good estate management for schools’ guidance. The guidance
is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools</a>.</p><p>
</p><p>In addition to condition capital funding, the school rebuilding programme (SRP)
will transform buildings at 500 schools in Engand over the next decade, prioritising
schools in poor condition and with evidence of potential safety issues. The department
has announced 400 schools to date, including 239 in December 2022.</p><p> </p><p>The
department is providing targeted support for RAAC and will fund emergency mitigation
work needed to make school and college buildings safe, including installing alternative
classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with
revenue costs, the department expects all reasonable requests will be approved. The
department will also fund refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these
are needed, to remove RAAC from the school estate, including through the SRP.</p>
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