The National Audit Office report outlines different levels of possible investment in the school estate. However, decisions about investment have to be made over a vast range of significant infrastructure projects across government. The Department regularly speaks to HM Treasury about investment in the education estate. It would be inappropriate to disclose the details requested of the sensitive negotiations between HM Treasury and the Department. It would only show part of the picture on a complex decision-making process that takes place between multiple departments, ministers, officials, and other individuals, and would not reflect that such a process has to look across the board at priorities. It would also breach the long-standing traditions, and expectation, of confidential and often commercially sensitive information not being disclosed into the public domain, and of allowing officials to give full and frank advice to ministers.

School improvement brokering and monitoring grant (SIMBG) allocations by local authority can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-improvement-monitoring-and-brokering-grant-allocations.

As the grant is paid to local authorities, we are not able to provide the data by parliamentary constituency.

SIMBG allocations aggregated by Regional School Commissioner regions can be found below:

We have allocated £11.3 billion since 2015 to maintain and improve the condition of school facilities, including £1.8 billion in the 2021/22 financial year. We expect to publish details of funding allocations for the 2022/23 financial year in the spring this year, and to provide details for the 2023/24 financial year in 2023.

The department allocates condition funding each year to schools and those responsible for school buildings to improve and maintain the condition of the school estate. Local authorities, large multi-academy trusts (MATs) and large voluntary-aided (VA) bodies receive an annual school condition allocation (SCA) to invest in condition priorities across the schools for which they are responsible. Allocations and the methodology for calculating SCA for the 2021-22 financial year can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding

Smaller or stand-alone academy trusts and VA bodies are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF). The CIF is an annual bidding round to apply for capital funding that is usually launched in autumn each year, with outcomes announced in spring.

In June 2020, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced a new 10 year rebuilding programme which will deliver 500 projects over the next decade, replacing many poor condition and ageing school buildings with modern designs that will be net zero carbon in operation.

We have confirmed the first 100 schools in the programme. We expect to set out the response to our recent consultation on the approach to prioritising further schools shortly, as well as details of the next round of the programme.

On 8 February 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote to the Office for Students (OfS) to set out his priorities for the forthcoming year. This letter can be accessed here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/48277145-4cf3-497f-b9b7-b13fdf16f46b/ofs-strategic-guidance-20210208.pdf.

One of these priorities is to change the name of the Teaching Grant to the Strategic Priorities Grant. This is to ensure the name of this funding reflects its important role in supporting providers and students to develop the skills and knowledge needed locally, regionally, and nationally to support the economy.

The Strategic Priorities Grant will be reformed for the 2021/22 financial year to ensure that more of taxpayers’ money is spent on supporting higher education (HE) provision which aligns with national priorities, such as healthcare, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and subjects meeting specific labour market needs.

London weighting funding is a small proportion of the overall income of providers and it is right for the government to re-allocate public money where it is most needed. Universities should not receive additional investment for teaching simply because of where they are located. Excellent provision can be delivered across the country.

London already has, on average, the highest percentage of good or outstanding schools, the highest progression to HE, and more HE providers than any other region in England. This reform will invest more money directly into high quality institutions in the Midlands and the North.

The analysis we offer at this stage, as presented in the annex to the letter to the Office for Students (OfS), gives a broad indication of the impact of the changes to aid understanding. This letter can be accessed here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/a3814453-4c28-404a-bf76-490183867d9a/rt-hon-gavin-williamson-cbe-mp-t-grant-ofs-chair-smb.pdf.

The OfS will consult on these changes shortly, before final allocations for the 2021/22 financial year are confirmed and will carefully consider the impact of any changes on providers.

We are also making available an additional £50 million of hardship funding this financial year. In total we have made £70 million of funding available for student hardship, given the £20 million made available to HE providers in December. Providers will have flexibility in how they distribute the funding to students, in a way that will best prioritise those in greatest need.

This money is in addition to the £256 million of Student Premium funding that HE providers are able draw on this academic year towards student hardship funds, including the purchase of IT equipment, and mental health support, as well as to support providers’ access and participation plans.

Furthermore, we have asked the OfS to allocate £15 million towards student mental health in 2021/2022 through the proposed reforms to Strategic Priorities grant funding, to help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university, given the increasing demand for mental health services. This will target those students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable groups and hard-to-reach students.

The OfS has also been asked to allocate £5 million to providers in order to provide additional support for student hardship. This is to mitigate the rise in student hardship due to the COVID-19 impacts on the labour market which particularly affect, for example, students relying on work to fund their studies, students whose parents have lost income and students who are parents and whose partner's income has been affected.

We have also asked the OfS for a £10 million increase to the specialist provider allocation, to support these institutions which are particularly reliant on Strategic Priorities Grant funding, many of whom are London-based. We want to ensure that our small and specialist providers, including some of our top music and arts providers, receive additional support, and that grant funding is used to effectively support students.

South Western Railway is owned by First Group and MTR Europe.

The Department holds regular meetings with all franchise owning groups. These cover a wide range of topics, including financial and performance matters. These meetings involve officials at all levels from within the Department.