Maintenance fund to give £9bn a year to fix schools, hospitals and prisons

At least £9 billion a year will go to tackling the 'soaring maintenance backlog' and fixing crumbling schools, hospitals and prisons over the next decade under the Government's infrastructure strategy, a minister has confirmed.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said £6 billion a year would go to repairing hospitals, £3 billion to schools and colleges and £600 million to courts and prisons as part of Labour's plans for 'national renewal'.
The maintenance fund is part of the minimum £725 billion committed to boost infrastructure in the 10-year plan, he told the Commons.
The Government hopes this preventative action will break the cycle of emergency repairs in public infrastructure.
It will go towards making court facilities better in a bid to reduce backlogs, and improving safety and security in prisons across England and Wales.
Removing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) will be among the measures taken to update health facilities.
The Treasury minister told MPs: 'Done properly it will result in tangible improvements to the fabric of our country, our local roads and high streets renewed so communities are even better places to live. Our public transport more available and more reliable, making it easier for people to get around and access opportunities.
'Our schools and hospitals and GP surgeries fit for the future to deliver for generations to come, and a country that will be stronger and more resilient.
'Communities will see the difference as this Labour Government delivers on the promise of change and a decade of national renewal.'
The strategy also includes £1 billion to fix roads, bridges and flyovers and £590 million to start work on the Lower Thames Crossing project.
Some £16 billion of public investment will go towards building 500,000 new homes through a new publicly owned National Housing Bank. This is expected to unlock more than £53 billion of private investment.
Around £7.9 billion over 10 years will be invested in maintaining and creating new flood defences with the aim of benefiting 840,000 properties.
The strategy covers a decade but the spending review cycle every two years will provide a juncture to decide whether to go ahead with projects.
A 'pipeline' of projects will be published online in mid-July and will be updated every six months.
The chief secretary's shadow counterpart Richard Fuller urged him to set out which major projects are being abandoned and explain why.
The pipeline is a digital dashboard that will give an overview of projects the Government is procuring on a map, Mr Jones said in response.
'It will show on a map of the country which projects we're procuring, when and where to give investors and businesses that long-term confidence about the jobs that are going to be available, so that they can invest in their own workforce,' he said.
The strategy does not cover so-called megaprojects which cost more than £10 billion and take more than 10 years to deliver – currently the HS2 railway, Sizewell C nuclear plant and the Dreadnought submarine programme.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: 'Infrastructure is crucial to unlocking growth across the country, but for too long investment has been squeezed. Crumbling public buildings are a sign of the decay that has seeped into our everyday lives because of a total failure to plan and invest.
'We're not just fixing buildings – we're enhancing public services, improving lives and creating the conditions for sustainable economic growth in communities throughout the UK. We're delivering on a decade of national renewal we promised Britain.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

BBC News

18 minutes ago

• BBC News

Some refuse workers will lose money

The leader of Birmingham City Council has admitted for the first time some refuse workers will lose money under plans to reform the workers who are members of Unite the Union have been in a stand-off with the Labour-run council over proposed changes to roles and pay, since January. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, council leader John Cotton said he "absolutely understood" there would be "implications for individuals", but the authority had to "implement job evaluation fairly across the council". Unite claims 170 workers face an annual pay cut of £8,000, but the authority has said only 17 members of staff lose up to £6,000 - something Cotton had not acknowledged publicly. Cotton stressed that the council continued to negotiate with Unite in order to find a "reasonable settlement" to "reflect the workforce's concerns".He denied claims from Unite that the deal to end the dispute had been "watered down" and said the authority had provided a "fair and reasonable offer", which was being discussed by arbitration body Acas. All-out strike action in the city began on 11 March and rubbish has continued to pile up on streets, but securing a legal injunction in May enabled more bin lorries to to be brought in to clear the mountains of bin bags."Regarding the city as a whole, since we secure the injunction and have been able to deploy our available fleet we have collected 33,498 tonnes and average 1,288 per day which includes weekends," a spokesperson for the city council said."We have cleared the backlog so are now able to continue to implement our contingency plan, providing residents with one collection each week." 'Avoid repeating mistakes' The leader of the Labour-run authority described the situation as "incredibly frustrating" and said it continued to urge Unite to accept the offer it had placed on the table. "This strike needs to end so we can carry on with transforming the waste service and ensuring everyone gets the services they're entitled to," Cotton the council leader added that he had "set some straight red lines" to avoid "repeating some of the mistakes that happened in the past"."We have had to take a look at the grading of the driver roles, that is part of the process we have signed up to together with the trade unions, it is a recognised methodology for evaluating jobs."He said a negotiated settlement was "in everyone's interest" and it would allow the council to "get back to the business of improving the waste service in the city". Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Powys County Times

20 minutes ago

• Powys County Times

Lammy urges Iran and US to keep talking as Middle East conflict continues

David Lammy has urged Iran to carry on negotiations with the US as he continued to seek a diplomatic solution to the Middle East conflict. The Foreign Secretary met his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday alongside foreign ministers from France and Germany and the EU's foreign policy chief. Following the meeting, Mr Lammy said the Europeans were 'keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations with Iran, and we urge Iran to continue their talks with the United States'. He added: 'We were clear: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.' Friday's meeting followed Donald Trump's statement that he would delay a decision on whether the US would join Israeli strikes against Iran for two weeks, raising the prospect of a negotiated solution to the crisis. German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said the group had left the room 'with the impression that the Iranian side is fundamentally ready to continue talking about all important issues'. Speaking to broadcasters after the meeting, Mr Lammy described the situation as 'perilous' and urged Iran to 'take that off ramp' and 'be serious about the diplomacy that is required at this moment'. He added that the US and Europe were pushing for Iran to agree to zero enrichment of uranium as a 'starting point' for negotiations. But Mr Araghchi said Iran would not negotiate with the US as long as Israel continued to carry out airstrikes against the country. Tel Aviv's campaign continued on Friday, with Israel saying its aircraft had hit military targets including missile-manufacturing facilities as it continues to attack locations connected with Iran's nuclear programme. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful. Meanwhile, the UK Government has announced it will use charter flights to evacuate Britons stranded in Israel once the country's airspace reopens. Number 10 said on Friday morning the situation remains 'fast-moving' and it will continue to be monitored closely. A spokesman added: 'We are advising British nationals to continue to register their presence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, to be contactable with further guidance on these flights.' Mr Lammy said work is under way to provide the flights 'based on levels of demand' from UK citizens who want to leave the region. 'The UK will provide charter flights for British nationals from Tel Aviv when airspace reopens,' he said. 'The safety of British nationals remains our top priority.' According to the Israeli government, some 22,000 tourists are seeking to board evacuation flights. It is unclear how many of these may be UK citizens. Government advice for British nationals in the country remains to follow local guidance, as well as to let officials know about their presence within Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Land routes out of Israel remain open and British staff are on hand to support UK nationals who have crossed the border, he added. The move follows criticism of the Foreign Office's initial response, which saw family members of embassy staff evacuated while UK citizens were not advised to leave and told to follow local guidance. The Government said the move to temporarily withdraw family members had been a 'precautionary measure'.

Times

an hour ago

• Times

A dozen ministers could quit over Starmer's disability welfare cuts

As many as a dozen members of government are prepared to resign rather than support Sir Keir Starmer's controversial welfare reforms, it has been claimed, as backbench critics accused ministers of betraying Labour values. A senior government figure told The Times that about 12 of their colleagues had privately indicated they would find it impossible to support the measures that are due to be voted on a week on Wednesday. Another leading opponent said that as many as 80 Labour MPs were 'holding firm' in opposition to the plans and believed the government would ultimately have to pull the vote. • No concessions on benefits reform, Starmer tells rebels 'If this goes through this will be our version of tuition fees,' they said. 'The optics of taking away money from people who find it difficult to go to the toilet are terrible.' The government has a working majority of 165, meaning that 83 Labour MPs would have to rebel for Starmer to lose a vote. Whips are warning potential rebels that they will be blacklisted for any future government job for as long as Starmer is prime minister — even if they simply abstain. Anyone openly opposing the plans faces a threat of having the whip suspended entirely amid growing concern in No 10 that the vote could slip away from the government. But one government source suggested that contingency plans to pull the vote altogether were being prepared, in case Starmer's team concluded that they did not have the numbers. Any move to back down would have implications for the government's finances as the £5 billion of savings from the changes have already been 'banked' by Rachel Reeves in the government's spending plans. Those prepared to walk away from their jobs are understood to be a mixture of junior ministers and parliamentary private secretaries — the MPs who act as the eyes and ears of cabinet ministers in Westminster. A few are said to be new MPs only elected last year. On Thursday Vicky Foxcroft, the MP for Lewisham North, resigned as a government whip and said she could not vote for the reforms. 'I have wrestled with whether I should resign or remain in the government and fight for change from within,' she told Starmer. 'Sadly it now seems that we are not going to get the changes I desperately wanted to see.' • Three months' grace for claimants about to lose disability benefits MPs are due to debate changes to welfare on July 1, which include a tightening of the criteria for the personal independence payment (PIP), the main disability payment in England and Wales. Ministers also want to cut the sickness-related element of universal credit, and delay access to it, so only those aged 22 and over can claim. The package of reforms is aimed at encouraging more people off sickness benefits and into work, but dozens of Labour rebels said last month that the proposals were 'impossible to support'. A number of MPs spoke out in support of Foxcroft after her resignation. Jonathan Brash, the MP for Hartlepool, said he had 'utmost respect for her and her principled stand here', adding: 'She's right. Our welfare system does need change, but the cuts proposed are not the right way to do it.' Connor Naismith, the MP for Crewe & Nantwich, added: 'This must have been an incredibly difficult decision but she should be commended for standing by her principles. I agree with her that reducing the welfare bill is the right ambition, but cuts to universal credit and PIP should not be part of the solution.' Asked about the resignation on Times Radio, Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary said that it was 'up to every MP to look to their conscience and vote the way that they believe is right'. 'If you can't stick with collective responsibility in government, you have to resign,' she said. 'She's done the honourable thing. It will enable her to have a voice.'