School rebuilding programme funding pledge welcomed by county council

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP, made the spending pledge to invest £1.4 billion as part of the school rebuilding programme ahead of her first Budget last week.

Her announcement comes after County Council Leader, Councillor Ben Bradley, and Councillor Sam Smith, Cabinet Member for Education & SEND, wrote to Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson MP, seeking assurances that Labour would honour the previous Government’s pledge to help fund the projects.

The county council is investing millions of pounds as part of a wide-ranging programme to ensure every child has access to the best education close to where they live and, in an environment, to help them succeed.

This includes channelling more than £40m into expanding secondary schools across Nottinghamshire; £38.5m on 95 school building improvement projects and £50m on the creation of over 450 new SEND school places.

Prior to the General Election in July, the county council had been successful in securing DfE funding for the construction of a new 160-place special school to serve pupils aged between seven and 18.

Now, Cllr Smith has welcomed the Government’s announcement but stressed he would be also calling on it to reaffirm its commitment in relation to funding for SEND provision.

He said: “I very much welcome the announcement that the Government is committed to investing £1.4bn to ensure schools are transformed to provide the required learning environment to help children and young people succeed.

“We are investing millions of pounds to expand Nottinghamshire’s secondary schools, improve school buildings and meet a target of creating up to 490 additional SEND places by 2026 to address the growing demand for more specialist school places across the county.

“Therefore, we’re asking the Government and the Department for Education (DfE) to confirm as soon as possible when the funding will filter down for us to push forward with planned major school building projects in Nottinghamshire.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to call on the Government to announce, as a matter of urgency, how it intends to allocate funding for local authorities to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, and their families, and enable us to further invest in providing much-needed special school places.

“There is no better investment in our children’s future than ensuring they get a good education, and we are committed to building and expanding schools to provide pupils with the best facilities to allow them to learn in modern, well-equipped buildings.”