Schools: Water

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much (a) water and (b) electricity was used by schools in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002, (iii) 2003, (iv) 2004, (v) 2005, (vi) 2006 and (vii) 2007. (200310)

The Department does not have information on the volumes of water and electricity supplied to all schools in England. However, we have gathered benchmarking information on electricity and water use for the years 2001-2006 for a sample of schools. This has been analysed to determine average water use per pupil and electricity use per square metre of floor area as summarised in the following tables.

*Average annual water consumption (cu.m/pupil)*
	Nursery	Primary	Secondary
		With pool	Without pool	With pool	Without pool
2000-01¹	3.41	4.31	3.80	5.08	3.86
2001-02¹	4.28	4.35	4.03	5.06	3.96
2002-03¹	4.21	4.48	4.02	5.08	3.82
2003-04²	3.50	5.16	3.99	5.08	3.70
2004-05²	3.52	4.95	4.08	4.89	3.75
2005-06²	3.71	4.91	4.11	5.39	3.75

*Average annual electricity consumption (kWh/m2)*
	Nursery	Primary	Secondary
		With pool	Without pool	With pool	Without pool
2000-01¹	38	34	36
2001-02¹	43	36	37
2002-03¹	43	37	39
2003-04²	42	39	37	47	40
2004-05²	48	42	40	48	41
2005-06²	53	46	43	56	49
¹Based on samples of approximately 16,000 schools ²Based on samples of approximately 4,000 schools

Volume 475: debated on Monday 28 April 2008