Relevant UK policies on school premises

Non Statistical Indicator

Education in the UK is devolved, meaning school premises in each country of the UK are governed by different pieces of legislation. The legislation for each devolved administration below sets out the minimum standards for school premises against this indicator. As these are legal requirements in the UK it is assumed the proportion of schools meeting the indicator requirements for these parts of the indicator would be at, or very close to 100%. We are continuing to work to source data for the full indicator.

England

All existing and new schools maintained by a local authority are assessed against The School Premises Regulations 2012. Independent schools are assessed against The Education Independent Schools Standards Regulations 2010. In March 2015 the Department for Education published Advice on Standards for School Premises covering both these pieces of legislation. This covers standards for toilet and washing facilities, water supplies, lighting, and facilities for disabled pupils.

Northern Ireland

The School Building Handbook provides advice and guidance on the planning and design of new school buildings and the standard to which they should conform when designing new school accommodation.

Scotland

School premises in Scotland are governed by The School Premises General Requirements and Standards Regulations 1967. This legislation covers sanitary and washing accommodation, water supplies and lighting. In 2017 the Scottish Government conducted a consultation for updating this legislation.

Wales

School premises in Wales are governed against The Education School Premises Regulations 1999. This sets out requirements for washroom facilities, water supplies and lighting in schools in Wales.

This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from UK statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from UK statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other UK-specific metadata information.

Indicator available

Relevant UK policies on school premises
Indicator description

Policies for each of the devolved administrations, relating to the global indicator.
Geographical coverage
Unit of measurement
Definitions
Available disaggregations
Calculations
Other information

This indicator is being used as an approximation of the UN SDG Indicator. Where possible, we will work to identify or develop UK data to meet the global indicator specification. This indicator has been identified in collaboration with topic experts.
Data last updated 18 April 2019
Metadata last updated 06 December 2021

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator name

Proportion of schools offering basic services, by type of service
Target name

Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
Global indicator description
UN designated tier

Tier I
UN custodian agency

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - Institute for Statistics (UNESCO-UIS)
Link to UN metadata United Nations Sustainable Development Goals metadata for target 4.a opens in a new window
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