School maintenance needed

Over 140 mobile cabins in use as backlog in school upgrades mounts

With the backlog of school building repairs mounting at cash strapped councils it has emerged that at least 80 schools in North Wales are relying on 147 temporary buildings to provide classrooms with some of the mobile cabins dating to the 1960s.

In total, across the five local authorities that replied to a Freedom of Information request lodged by Matt Wright, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for the Vale of Clwyd, there were 147 cabins in use with over 3,000 pupils estimated to rely on them. Worst hit were Denbighshire and Wrexham. Denbighshire had 56 cabins at 23 schools and they estimated the total capacity of the cabins was upto 1,540 pupils. Wrexham had 45 cabins in use with an estimated 750 pupils per day reliant on them. Flintshire had 16 cabins at 12 schools and a total of 404 children being taught in the temporary buildings while Gwynedd had 28 cabins but had not divulged the number of pupils having to be taught in them. Ynys Mon had only 2 cabins in use and in the case of Conwy they had 10 portable buildings housing 415 pupils.

Commenting Matt Wright said, "There is a huge and unacceptable backlog of maintenance at our schools made worse by an unfair funding formula that has penalised some of our Local Education Authorities in North Wales. Despite all the promises of money from the Welsh Assembly Govt too many of our children are having to be taught in sub-standard conditions. It is not just maintenance problems but also the failure to provide funds to councils for upgrading of schools many of which are pre-1900s structures. The facts show that year after year the Labour-led Govt in Cardiff have spent less than they promised. Their 2003 manifesto stated they would spend £560M upto 2007 but they spent barely half of that. For the period 2007-8 they said they would invest £157M but actually only spent £91M. Is it any surprise that such a huge backlog has built up over these years and that in the 21st century we have kids being taught in draughty temporary cabins".     

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS * Matt Wright asked 4 questions by way of an FOI request. The questions and answers for each LA in N Wales is as follows: 

1) The nos of schools in your authority that have at least one temporary building on site used as classrooms eg "portakabins", mobile buildings etc.

Gwynedd - 20; Denbs - 23; Wrexham - 23; Flints - 12; Ynys Mon 2; Conwy - 10 

2) The nos of temporary buildings used as classrooms (incl. at each school in question) - see extra data attached

Gwynedd - 28; Denbs - 56; Wrexham - 36; Flints - 16; Ynys Mon - 2; Conwy - 10

3) The total nos of temporary buildings in use in your local authority for teaching

Gwynedd - not specified; Denbs - 56; Wrexham - 45; Flints - 16; Ynys Mon - 2; Conwy - 10

4) The nos of children in your authority using these temporary structures on a daily basis

Gwynedd - not specified; Denbs - capacity of units 1540; Wrexham - est 750 pupils per day; Flints - 404; Ynys Mon - not specified fully; Conwy - 415

* Labour has made a series of claims about how much money it has invested in new school buildings.

First Assembly term –In its 2003 Assembly election manifesto Labour said it had invested £300mn in school buildings (p7, Working Together for Wales)

But according to the government’s own officials, the amount for that period is £146,156,603 (including additional capital funding, voluntary aided programmes and infant class size reduction grants).

Second Assembly term - In its 2003 manifesto, Labour also promised to spend a total of £560mn between 2003 and 2007 (£140mn per year) (p9 & 22,Working Together for Wales). The policy was one of Labour’s Top 10 election pledges.

But according to theHypothecated capital funding for schools in Wales,the Labour Assembly Government actually spent £266M on school buildings improvements (less than half of that promised) 

Third Assembly term – In a written Assembly question (WAQ50384) Welsh Conservative AM Alun Cairns asked Education Minister Jane Hutt about the money available in the next financial year to bring school buildings up to standard. The Minister gave a figure of £157mn.

But in 2007-08, only £91,185,000 was made available.

Hypothecated capital funding for schools in Wales (£)

        New Deal For Schools    Additional Capital Funding      School Buildings Improvement Grant      Voluntary Aided Programme       Infant Class Size Reduction Grant       Total  
1999/2000      13,524,376                     -                                                  -                                                      5,580,000                                   3,437,728                                       22,542,104     
2000/2001      16,053,000                 26,800,000                                           -                                                      6,880,000                                   1,565,802                                       51,298,802     
2001/2002      19,544,624                     -                                                   -                                                      7,500,000                                       296,073                                      27,340,697     
2002/2003               -                                   -                                          36,475,000                                                8,500,000                                            -                                            44,975,000     
2003/2004               -                                   -                                          36,725,000                                                9,500,000                                           -                                            46,225,000     
2004/2005               -                                   -                                          42,685,000                                                9,500,000                                           -                                            52,185,000     
2005/2006               -                                   -                                          74,685,000                                                9,500,000                                           -                                            84,185,000     
2006/2007               -                                   -                                          74,685,000                                                9,500,000                                          -                                            84,185,000     
2007/2008               -                                   -                                          81,685,000                                                9,500,000                                           -                                            91,185,000     

[Source:School Building Improvement Grant data is taken from Welsh Assembly Government budget papers, other data provided by Welsh Assembly Government officials]

Hypothecated (ring-fenced) capital funding for schools in Wales is not the only money available to local authorities for school building repairs/modernisation.

Previously, money has been made available in the form of New Deal for Schools funding and Infant Class Size Reduction funding (see above). Thismay have been used for capital building works. In addition, local authorities receive annual allocations of general capital funding which is non-hypothecated (not ring-fenced) and can therefore be spent on other areas by councils whose budgets are already under serious pressure.