Schools in England are to benefit from investment of over £1.4billion in buildings and facilities over the coming financial year.
This includes over £430 million from the Condition Improvement Fund, covering more than 1,400 projects announced today (Thursday, 4 April).
The money also includes almost £800million for local authorities and larger multi-academy trusts to invest in improving and maintaining their schools.
This funding is part of over £7.4 billion capital funding allocated since 2015. In addition, the priority school building programme is rebuilding or refurbishing facilities at over 500 schools across England.
This investment comes after stats last week showed the government is on track to deliver 1 million new school places by 2020 – with 921,000 created since 2010.
Schools are much more than just buildings; they are the centres of communities, they are where children learn skills for the rest of their lives, and they are safe havens. That’s why it’s vital they are in the best possible condition. So as well as providing the resources for all schools to maintain and renew their facilities, today’s funding will target those schools with some of the most urgent need – making sure children don’t have to spend time in buildings that aren’t fit for purpose.
Over £200 million of Devolved Formula Capital allocated for schools to spend on small capital projects to meet their own priorities.
Since 2015, the Condition Improvement Fund has allocated nearly £2bn for over 6,000 projects at more than 3,000 schools all over the country.
This year’s funding will go to projects that tackle building condition and health and safety compliance, such as replacing roofs, windows and fire alarm systems, to ensure that schools are kept safe and open.
On top of this the Department is today announcing that over £8 million in interest-free loan funding will be split between 167 academies to pay for energy efficiency projects including heating controls lighting upgrades and insulation.
Figures from 2016/17 show state-funded schools in England spent more than £584 million on gas and electricity and the average secondary school spends around £90,000 a year on energy. This funding will help the schools that receive it save around £1.8million a year, driving down the carbon footprint of the school estate and saving money in the process.
The money comes from the Salix Energy Efficiency Fund which is provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and administered by Salix Finance Ltd.
Earlier this year the Department launched a new web-based tool to help schools switch to cheaper energy suppliers.
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has published an addendum to its October 2018 ‘Sector risk profile’ outlining its views on the sustainability of some registered providers of specialised supported housing who tend to lease most of their property portfolio from property funds and other private investors.
The publication, ‘Lease-based providers of specialised supported housing’ looks at the recurring factors that have led to a number of providers of this type of accommodation with similar business models being assessed by RSHas non-compliant with its Governance and Financial Viability Standard.
a lack of assurance about whether appropriate rents are being charged.
Specialised supported housing should provide accommodation and care for some of the most vulnerable people in society, enabling them to live independently. Recently we have seen rapid expansion in providers of this type of accommodation, enabled by long term, index-linked lease financing at tight margins for the provider. Substantial reliance on this type of financing creates significant risk exposures, and we are concerned that a number of these providers do not have the resources and skills needed to appraise and manage them. We have also identified cases of poor quality service to tenants and failure to maintain properties to required standards.
We intend to work with the boards of these registered providers to establish whether they can develop a long-term business model that demonstrates they can manage these risks, is sustainable and compliant with our regulatory standards. Where an organisation falls into financial difficulty and tenants are at risk, our priority will be to seek to achieve the best outcome for tenants and to protect their interests. We will be unable to guarantee the position of creditors and investors.
Lease-based providers of specialised supported housing is available on the RSH website.
The Sector Risk Profile 2018 and Governance and Financial Viability Standard is available on the RSH website.
RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants.
For press office contact details, see our Media enquiries page. For general queries, please email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225.
Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner to Europe, Andrew Mitchell, signed the UK- Iceland-Norway agreement on trade in goods in London today (2nd April 2019) with Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson, Ambassador of Iceland to the UK, and Wegger Christian Strømmen, Ambassador of Norway to the UK.