Government has been warned against stigmatising schools that have fallen into disrepair “through no fault of their own” after revealing plans to publish building condition details for parents.
The Department for Education believes publishing the information from its condition data collection (CDC) study will boost transparency and highlight “the mess left by the Conservatives”.
Officials are working to process the files – compiled following surveys conducted between 2017 and 2019 – and make them accessible on the government’s website this autumn.
But academy funding consultant Tim Warneford argued this may give parents an incomplete picture of a school’s condition.
“It’s not going to tell parents very much. It won’t be contemporary [information] and … these are not intrusive surveys – they are very fast, drive-by surveys.
“What’s more likely is the CDC will score things more highly, but if you send a chartered surveyor in there, they will be able to lift the bonnet and grade them far lower.”
CDC checks rated every school’s fixture and fitting from grades A to D to inform future funding allocations.
The results were used by the government in 2021 to decide which of the first 100 projects would make the cut for the school rebuilding programme. Nominations were then invited last year for the next 300 projects.
The last government said 95 per cent of fixtures were rated A or B, and just 0.3 per cent were given the worst possible rating. However, because of the size of the survey, this still accounts for thousands of fixtures in hundreds of schools.
Current schools data ‘impenetrable’
The school-level results were released in House of Lords deposited papers last summer.
Describing them as impenetrable, Warneford added: “It would be difficult to navigate them unless you live and breathe spreadsheets.”
The department revealed the survey data will be posted on its gov.uk page.
It stated the information will be shared in an accessible way, giving parents the chance to analyse the condition of their children’s schools.
Teams are still devising how this will be done but expect to launch the dashboard in the new term.
Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio argued the data must be “up-to-date and set within the context of what mitigation and works are planned or in progress”.
“We look forward to discussing with the government its plans to publish details of the condition of school buildings,” he continued.
“While we support the principle of transparency, it will be important not to stigmatise schools which – through no fault of their own – have condition needs which have not been met as a result of the past 14 years of government cuts to capital spending.
The announcement comes after the government confirmed plans to step up its scrutiny of how leaders are managing their buildings.
Last month, the academy trust handbook was updated to show that notices to improve could be issued to chains that fail to manage their estates and maintain them “in a safe working condition”.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the Tories “have left a trail of devastation across our education system, not least in our school buildings”.
“Their choices have led to good money being thrown after bad, and to the continual decline of our schools estate, leaving taxpayers to count the cost and children to pay the price.
“I want to level with parents: this will not be a quick fix. We are still uncovering the mess left by the Conservatives about the condition of our schools, which will take many years to put right.”
A new CDC, which started three years ago, is scheduled to be completed in 2026.
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