The Government could miss its target of reducing direct emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037 due to the current state of schools within England, alongside a lack of sufficient plans for upgrades from the Department for Education.
That’s according to a new report from the National Audit Office, which suggested that schools lack direction from the Department for Education when it comes to improving their sustainability. In fact, the report found that many of the recent improvements made by schools concentrated on improving building conditions, with sustainability integrated where possible, but not a major focus.
This is unsurprising as another report released by the National Audit Office suggests that around 700,000 children in England are studying in schools requiring major rebuilding or refurbishment, with more than a third (24,000) of English school buildings past their estimated initial design life.
In its recommendations to the Department for Education, the National Audit office has suggested that it consider how its sustainability ambitions can be achieved when addressing the condition of the school estate – rather than being an afterthought. The National Audit Office also recommends improving the data and evidence base for sustainability measures and setting out a decarbonisation plan for the sector.
The Department for Education does plan on implementing emission targets for the education sector for 2025, with it currently exploring financing options to help accelerate its efforts. As part of those plans, an estimated 500 schools would be rebuilt as net zero buildings under a ten-year programme, which represents around 2% of the school estate.
Given that the Department for Education is responsible for 37% of emissions from public sector buildings, any lack of ambition to upgrade school buildings could directly impact the Government’s target of reducing direct emissions from public sector buildings.
However, it seems there is not much the Department for Education can do without more funding – with it struggling to simply maintain the existing buildings it operates. In recent years, there has been a significant funding shortfall contributing to deterioration across the school estate. The Department for Education has reported £7 billion a year as the best practice level of capital funding to maintain, repair and rebuild the school estate.
In 2020, it recommended funding of £5.3 billion a year to maintain schools and mitigate the most serious risks of building failure after expanding its school rebuilding programme over the next few years. It was subsequently allocated an average £3.1 billion a year of relevant funding from HM Treasury. Between 2016 and 2022, the Department for Education spent an average £2.3 billion a year.
The National Audit Office says the Department of Education has assessed the possibility of a building collapse or failure causing death or injury as a ‘critical and very likely’ risk since summer 2021. Alongside the need to improve the energy efficiency of these buildings – it’s clear the Department for Education is desperate for more cash.
Gareth Davies, Head of the National Audit Office, noted, “At present, 700,000 pupils are learning in schools requiring major rebuilding or refurbishment. The Department for Education has, since 2021, assessed the risk of school building failure or collapse as critical and very likely, but it has not been able to reduce this risk. More widely, it has an ambitious strategy for decarbonising the education estate but no plan for how it will achieve this or how much it is likely to cost.
“The Department for Education is gathering some of the data it needs to effectively target its resources. It must now use this to improve its understanding of where schools are most at risk so it can balance addressing the most urgent risks while investing enough in maintenance, reducing carbon emissions, and climate change adaptation measures to achieve its objectives and secure longer-term value for money.”