£7bn bill for school repairs

Roofs, walls and windows account for much of the total

Schools in England need repairs which would cost about £7bn.

Although Labour has hugely increased capital investment since it came to power, the true scale of what still needs to be done has emerged in figures collected by education authorities.

The total amount of work unveiled in the "asset management plans" indicates a far bigger backlog than had been realised.

The government has not published an area-by-area breakdown, but the total amounts to more than £800 for every pupil in the country.

What is needed

Of that, £754m in total is for the so-called Priority 1 category - "urgent work that will prevent immediate closure of premises, and/or address an immediate high risk to the health and safety of occupants, and/or remedy a serious breach of legislation."

This has 12 elements:

• Roofs - £134m
• Floors and stairs - £24m
• Ceilings - £9m
• External walls, windows and doors - £137m
• Internal walls, windows and doors - £21m
• Sanitary services - £18m
• Mechanical services - £189m
• Electrical services - £115m
• Redecoration - £28m
• Fixed furniture and fittings - £8m
• External areas - £64m
• Playing fields - £8m

In addition, authorities reckoned that £3.1bn was needed for work required within two years to prevent serious deterioration, and as much again for work required within three to five years.

Increased funding

The government is committed to increasing spending on repairs, which has gone up from £683m in 1996-97 to £2.2bn this year.

It is projected to reach £3.5bn by 2003-04.

Announcing the latest allocation of £829m on 19 December, the Schools Minister Catherine Ashton said: "One of the keys to improving school standards is ensuring that classrooms and schools are well-maintained and well-equipped to provide pupils with a stable learning environment."

But much of that money was to provide additional school places, rather than to repair existing stock.

Safety priority

The Liberal Democrat education spokesman, Phil Willis, has been pressing ministers repeatedly this year to publish the asset management plans.

He has now asked for a more detailed breakdown of the repairs needed.

He said: "It is all very well for the government to claim that more money will be spent on schools in the future, but they should not have played political games with our children's safety when deciding their spending priorities in the past.

"Our children's safety can be the only priority for the government."