We all want to provide our children with the best start in life and I remain determined that children around the country should receive a high- quality education.
Between 2010 and 2024, more money than ever before was invested in schools, ensuring every child gets access to a world-class education. In the last financial year under the previous government, the total core schools’ budget was at its highest-ever level at £59.6 billion, an increase of £1.8 billion. This increase means that every school will receive an average of £6,000 per pupil from 2025.
As a result of the actions of the previous Conservative government, pupil premium funding rates will increase to £1,480 for primary pupils and £1,050 for secondary pupils in 2024/25, an increase of ten per cent since 2021/22, to support schools in disadvantaged areas to raise educational outcomes for the pupils who need it most.
In March 2024, the last government invested £850 million to deliver 60,000 more school places for children with special education needs across England - part of a £2.6 billion investment, which triples previous levels of investment compared to just three years ago. It also expanded the number of special free schools, with 92 new ones expected to be built on top of the already opened 108.
The last Government was committed to delivering great school buildings, transforming the learning environment for tens of thousands of pupils and their teachers while delivering value for money for the taxpayer. It allocated over £17 billion from 2015 to maintain and improve school facilities across England, including £1.8 billion for the 2023-24 financial year. They also announced an additional capital investment of up to £140 million to enable colleges, academies and schools to add additional capacity where there is a pressing need for places for 16-19-year-olds in their local area, given local demographic pressures. Ultimately, local authorities, academy trusts and others are responsible for conducting their own assessment of the condition of school buildings. This means they can prioritise investment of capital funding to best meet the need in their community.
I would of course like to see the new Labour Government continue to provide the sector with the appropriate funding it needs and understand that any future decisions remain subject to the Spending Review.
More generally, the UK is home to around 30 million buildings which are responsible for around 30 per cent of UK emissions. The majority of buildings still rely on burning high-carbon fossil fuels for heating, hot water and cooking, and have low thermal efficiency which means that much of the heat that is generated is wasted. To reach Net Zero, in the next 30 years, we need to decarbonise the way we heat and cool our homes and workplaces to near zero. We can achieve this through improving the energy efficiency of our buildings and switching high-carbon sources of heat to low-carbon alternatives.
In 2024, the last Government made significant progress on this by announcing a further £557 million investment to support efficient upgrades for schools, pools and hospitals. As a result, heat pumps, solar panels, insulation and low-energy lighting will be rolled out to reduce the use of fossil fuels across the public sector and strengthen the UK's energy independence, helping save taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.
I urge the new Labour Government to continue with this trend of investment into making our public buildings, such as schools, more energy efficient as reducing emissions will not only help cut bills in the long term but will help ensure the UK meets its climate commitments having already led the world by halving emissions since 1990.
I also welcome a range of new measures that were implemented putting climate change at the heart of education. For example, the Department for Education's Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy sets out initiatives which include support for teaching about nature and climate change, the introduction of a Natural History GCSE, a National Education Nature Park, and the Climate Leaders Award. These programs will not only engage pupils with the natural world but will directly involve them in measuring and improving biodiversity in their school, college, or university.
The previous government set a target for all education settings to have a sustainability lead and a climate action plan in place by 2025, to help embed sustainability in all they do. In 2024, schools, nurseries and colleges will be able to access a new support service to help develop these plans. A website will help settings take evidence-based action and direct them to the help they need, including on the ground expert and peer to peer help. You can read more here: Sustainability leadership and climate action plans in education
Climate ambassadors from universities and businesses around the UK provide free support and guidance to teachers, school and college leaders, and everyone involved in the education system. Led by the University of Reading and STEM Learning, climate ambassadors have already helped more than 80,000 learners and educators to include climate education in the curriculum and reduce their environmental impact.
I can assure you that my parliamentary colleagues and I will hold this new Labour Government accountable. It must provide the funding to ensure every child receives the high-quality education they deserve in safe, climate friendly settings.
