Crumbling schools warning based on new advice received last week, Minister says
Crumbling schools warning based on new advice received last week, Minister says
GBN
School building closures were ordered due to new advice from experts on crumbling concrete that was received last week, Treasury Minister Gareth Davies has said.
He was responding to criticism over the timing of the closure orders which came days before children are due to return to schools after the summer break.
Mr Davies told GB News: “Protecting children and staff in schools is obviously a paramount priority and that's why the Education Secretary has acted so swiftly on new evidence that has emerged during the summer and as recently as last week.
"We have been very proactively engaged on this.
Workmen at Abbey Lane Primary School in Sheffield, which has been affected with sub standard reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac)
PA
“We advised the bodies responsible for those institutions to vacate while mitigations can take place.
"So, obviously this is incredibly serious, it’s very concerning, but most people in this country will not be affected by this...
“Parents will be told by their schools first and foremost, whether they're impacted - if parents watching this have not heard from their schools by the opening of schools, they should proceed to the school as normal. That's been our priority.
“The Education Secretary will be making a statement though, later this week in the House of Commons.”
In a discussion with Camilla Tominey, he continued: “The vast majority of schools will not be impacted even where they have confirmed cases of RAAC, it is unlikely that schools will have to close although inevitably some will.
“This could be as small as a one room, by the way. It could be a boiler room in an outbuilding. We're taking it on a case by case building so it's not the case that all face to face lessons will be cancelled.
"That's not the case. And we're providing financial support to ensure that mitigations are in place…
“We've issued guidance to schools to say that they should have contingency measures in place for short notice vacation if they have RAAC. In 2022, we surveyed 22,500 schools to determine where that RAAC was and we've acted on that immediately.
Workmen at Abbey Lane Primary School in Sheffield, which has been affected with sub standard reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).
PA
“This is in contrast, by the way, to most countries around the world but including Labour-run Wales who have failed to do this, they failed to survey their schools to determine where RAAC exists and so they're going to have to catch up very quickly.”
He added: “This is based on very new advice as late as last week where previously-determined, non-critical, in the words of a surveyor, non-critical RAAC existence has failed.
“And on that basis, we changed the advice to those bodies that are responsible, local authorities and academy trusts who are responsible for building maintenance, our advice changed out of an abundance of caution because children are involved.”
Asked about the prospect of tax cuts, he said: “We accept that taxes are higher than we want them to be. We want taxes to come down, but let's be clear about things. They're only going to go one way under Labour…
“I would argue that we are still low tax and internationally competitive but we are always looking at ways of bringing it down but we are the party of responsible sustainable finances first, you can trust us with your taxpayer money not to be paying too much debt interest at the expense of something else.”