Revealed: the alarming state of schools, hospitals, prisons and courts

One in six pupils are studying in schools needing major work or in poor condition; almost half are deemed unsafe or ageing. A third of NHS sites in England require repairs to prevent major disruption, and over 100 prisons have serious maintenance issues. Just 1% of court buildings in England are in good condition.

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programme director at the Institute for Government, said: "The UK has a decades-long history of underinvesting in public sector buildings, but the 2010s saw deep cuts to already limited budgets. Departments have also regularly underspent their capital allocations, raided them to cover shortfalls in day-to-day spending and rushed money out of the door in the last month of the financial year.

"The result is record maintenance backlogs and an unmodernised estate that makes it much harder for front-line staff to do their jobs and for the public to receive the support they need."

The Guardian investigation pulled together data for the first time from the Department for Education, the courts service, prison regulators, the NHS and the Department for Work and Pensions.

It found that one in six pupils were studying in schools that either needed major work or were in a relatively poor condition. Almost half of those were in schools that the government or regulatory body has deemed to be unsafe or ageing and in need of major refurbishment.