House debates

Monday, 23 May 2011

Questions in Writing

Building the Education Revolution Program (Question No. 295)

Photo of Paul FletcherPaul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, in writing, on 21 March 2011:

How many schools in NSW received Commonwealth funding under the Building the Education Revolution program, and in these schools, how many classrooms were built, and how many of these classrooms are air-conditioned.

Photo of Peter GarrettPeter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | | Hansard source

The Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

(1) In NSW, 3,079 Government, Catholic and Independent schools received funding under the Building the Education Revolution (BER) program.

(2) The table below shows the number of Primary Schools for the 21st Century (P21) projects in NSW with a facility type of "Classrooms". Some of these projects may have involved the construction of more than one classroom.

Under the National School Pride (NSP) or Science and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools(SLC) elements of the BER, "Classrooms" are not specified as a reportable facility type. Accordingly, data is not available on the number of classrooms built under these elements of the BER

Under NSP, the projects undertaken were small scale infrastructure and/or minor refurbishment in nature and hence are unlikely to include the construction of classrooms.

Under SLC, it is possible that the construction or refurbishment of science and language learning centres could be classified as "classrooms". The number of projects provided under the SLC element in NSW is 159.

(3) Under the BER reporting guidelines, jurisdictions are not required to report on the provision of air conditioning in BER facilities.