Rachel Reeves has announced she will spend £1.4 billion on the crumbling rebuild. schools as she pledges to prioritize education And child care in the Budget.

Investment in free breakfast clubs for students will also be trebled, while there will be a further £1.8 billion to spend expand government-funded child care.

Chancellor said children ‘should not suffer’ because of The £22bn ‘black hole’ claims the last Tory government left it behind.

However, experts cautioned that most of the funding would simply be enough to maintain existing programs.

More than 400 schools part of a flagship government rebuilding program, implemented under the Conservatives, still have no builders.

Construction contracts have been awarded to companies to rebuild just 62 by this summer, according to a BBC investigation.

The Treasury said the £1.4 billion, an increase of £550 million on last year, would “ensure delivery” of the scheme, first announced in 2020, and would rebuild around 50 per year.

A further £1.8 billion will be used to expand government-funded childcare, and a further £15 million will be used to help open nurseries in schools.

Labor has pledged to deliver on the Conservatives’ pledge to provide 30 hours of childcare per week during term time for all children over 9 months from September. But the party warned that massive expansion of the childcare sector would be a challenge.

Last week The Independent revealed that ministers have dropped the word “free” to describe the policy, as anger mounts over nursery fees. Under plans announced earlier this month, primary schools can now apply for up to £150,000 of the £15 million. The first stage of the plan is expected to support up to 300 new or expanded nurseries across England.

Ms Reeves announced at the Labor Party conference a £7 million trial of free breakfast clubs in up to 750 schools from April.

But she announced that this would rise to £30 million in 2025-26.

Labour’s manifesto pledges to spend £315 million on providing children with a good school breakfast by 2028-29.

A further £44 million has been announced to help parents and foster carers, including a pilot of a new ‘parenting allowance’, to help families with the costs of setting up the welcoming a loved one.

The Chancellor said: “This Government’s first Budget will set out how we will repair the foundations of the country. It will mean tough decisions, but also the start of a new chapter for Britain, growing our economy by investing in our future to rebuild our schools, our hospitals and our battered roads.

“Protecting education funding was one of the things I wanted to do first because our children are the future of this country. We may have inherited a disaster, but they shouldn’t suffer from it.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the funding would help “put education back at the forefront of national life”.

“This is a budget about repairing the foundations of the country, so there can be no better starting point than the chances of success for our children and young people,” she said.

“Our legacy may be disastrous, but I will never accept that a child can learn in a ruined classroom. »

However, Christine Farquharson, of the highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, said that “in a tight budget environment” the commitments “largely reflect decisions to continue programs”.

More than 100 schools, nurseries and colleges in England were forced to close their doors days before the autumn term last year following concerns about potentially dangerous autoclaved reinforced concrete (Raac).