Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson was speaking about the Government's increased investment in schools both in Sunderland and across the country.
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00:00Okay, and Bridget, how's the feel of being here today then to open a new building then?
00:04It's fantastic. I mean, it's a brilliant new building and, you know, children in Farringdon
00:08deserve really fantastic facilities. It makes such a difference to children's learning to
00:13have first class facilities and alongside that, the crucial importance of the teachers
00:18and the team in delivering a brilliant education.
00:21And can a learning environment really inspire children to race for the top and improve performance?
00:27It can. I mean, I think having a really great building and first class facilities does make
00:30a big difference, but also when, you know, facilities are run down or crumbling, that
00:35also I think really damages children's learning and life chances. I think the investment that
00:39we can make in school buildings doesn't just give children a great learning environment.
00:44I've seen the fantastic facilities here, but it also demonstrates that we really value
00:49their education and everything that they can go on to achieve.
00:53I know the new building for schools programme was stalled, I think it was back to 2016,
00:58due to funding, due to austerity. I mean, I know money's tight at the moment for the
01:02government. Is it something that the government's hoping to invest in and building new schools
01:05both here in Sunderland and across the country?
01:08We have faced a really big backlog where it comes to rebuilding and also the condition
01:12of lots of schools. We've seen the rat crisis where schools were crumbling, but it goes
01:17beyond that. Lots of schools are just beyond their design life. Back in 2010, when the
01:21Conservatives were first elected, they scrapped Labour's Building Schools for the Future
01:25programme. And that means that we haven't, over the last decade or so, really been investing
01:29in the way that we should have done in our schools. At the budget that we've just had
01:33in October, the Chancellor did set out significant additional investment going into schools capital,
01:39so making sure we can rebuild and refurbish schools. But alongside that, we also delivered
01:44a pay rise for teachers, because buildings are crucial, but so are the people that work
01:48and deliver a brilliant education for our children.