Schools concrete crisis: Starmer attacks Sunak’s Tory ‘cowboys’ as full list of closures revealed

Prime minister ‘makes no apology’ for Raac decisions as Labour asks if he is ‘ashamed’ over crisis caused by 13 years of ‘botched jobs’

Expert explains why Raac is more dangerous than standard concrete

Sir Keir Starmer has blamed the crumbling concrete crisis on “cutting corners” and “sticking plaster politics” as he grilled the prime minister in PMQs today.

The Labour leader: “It’s the sort thing you expect from cowboy builders saying everyone else is wrong, everyone is to blame, protesting that they’re doing an effing good job even if the ceiling falls in – except in this case the cowboys are running this country.”

He added: “Isn’t he ashamed that after 13 years children are cowering under steel supports, stopping their classroom roof falling in.”

Rishi Sunak said he was not sorry for the decision to close around 100 of the 156 schools with Raac, saying he would “make no apology for acting decisively in the light of new information”.

It comes as the Department for Education has published a full list of the schools affected with Raac in England.

Are you a parent whose child has been affected by RAAC closures? E-mail alexander.butler@independent.co.uk

Key Points

• Starmer attacks Sunak’s Tory ‘cowboys’ amid concrete crisis
• Sunak ‘makes no apology’ for Raac decisions
• Headteachers angrily accuse Sunak of ‘dumping’ them in crumbling concrete fiasco
• 13 schools with crumbling concrete RAAC had repair work scrapped by Tories
• The full list of schools affected by Raac concrete

[6 September 2023 12:57 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

Gillian Keegan’s department ‘gave £1m from schools rebuilding pot to company linked to husband’

Education secretary Gillian Keegan has “serious questions to answer”, said Labour after it emerged that a company linked to her husband was handed a £1m contract from a schools rebuilding fund.

The cabinet minister’s husband Michael Keegan states on his LinkedIn social media page that he is a non-executive director at technology firm Centerprise.

The company was one of six suppliers awarded IT contracts earlier this year to replace server infrastructure at schools – with the money coming from the school rebuilding programme fund, according to the Daily Mirror.

Adam Forrest reports:

[6 September 2023 13:10 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

Starmer: Sunak’s champagne Tories put bubbly tax cut ahead of bubbly concrete

Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of putting champagne drinkers ahead of school safety by cutting the budget for rebuilding classrooms while slashing duty on bubbly.

Ahead of a showdown with the prime minister in the Commons later the Labour leader highlighted Mr Sunak’s decision to slash investment in the school estate while reducing duty on sparkling wine.

“These are choices. [Sunak] didn’t say, ‘Well, I can’t do that in relation to champagne’. He took a choice to cut the rate in relation to champagne and not to sign off the necessary funding for school,” Sir Keir told BBC News.

[6 September 2023 13:30 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

Starmer: ‘Gillian Keegan’s £34m Whitehall office makeover shows reality of uncaring Tories’

The £34m revamp of education secretary Gillian Keegan’s offices shows that the Tories don’t care about spending enough to fix collapsing schools, said Sir Keir Starmer.

The Labour leader used PMQs to savage Rishi Sunak’s government over the crumbling concrete crisis – arguing that “the cowboys are running the country”.

Ms Keegan told Sky News earlier this week she “didn’t know” £34m was being spent on the departmental refurb and insisted she “wasn’t involved”.

But Sir Keir – highlighting the extravagant spending as ministers come under fire over “underinvestment” in schools – said it had her “personal stamp of approval”.

Adam Forrest has more:

[6 September 2023 13:45 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

PM promises new funding to schools to deal with concrete issues

Prime minister Rishi Sunak offered assurances that new funding will be provided for schools with concrete at risk of collapse.

He was responding to Conservative former cabinet minister Priti Patel who asked at Prime Minister’s Questions: “Can he try to commit... to fully funding both the capital and revenue costs that are associated with getting children back into school.”

Mr Sunak said: “I am to give her the reassurance as the Chancellor already said, new funding will be provided to schools to deal with this issue.

“But also to ensure that we can get through this as quickly as possible for her constituents and parents and indeed everyone’s, DfE (Department for Education) are in the process of increasing the number of dedicated caseworkers from 50 to 80.

“We have 35 project directions regionally on the ground to support, and we’ve increased the number of survey firms by more than double so that we can rapidly over the next few weeks fully assess all the relevant schools and have a mitigation plan in place.”

[6 September 2023 14:00 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

Safety of pupils and staff is ‘priority’- Gillian Keegan

In a written statement, education secretary Gillian Keegan, said: “I know this is the last way parents, teachers and children affected by this wanted to begin the new term, but it will always be my priority to ensure the safety of pupils and staff.

“Thanks to the hard work of schools, colleges, councils, diocese and academy trusts, the majority of settings where Raac has been confirmed have opened to all pupils for the start of term.

“We will continue to support all impacted settings in whatever way we can, whether that’s through our team of dedicated caseworkers or through capital funding to put mitigations in place.

“We are also expediting surveys and urging all responsible bodies to tell us what they know about Raac, so we can be confident that settings are safe and supported.”

[6 September 2023 14:24 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

School Raac concrete crisis: 7 questions from parents answered by expert as government list affected schools

Schools Week editor John Dickens tackled questions on homeschooling, further closures, contingency plans and more:

[6 September 2023 14:40 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

No 10: ‘No specific timeline’ for resolution to crisis

The government will not publish a submission from the Department for Education (DfE) to the Treasury asking for money to deal with the crumbling concrete crisis blighting schools.

Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman cited a “long-standing approach” to not publish official advice to ministers, saying he would not release the submission.

Former DfE permanent secretary Jonathan Slater said this week a submission to the Treasury before a 2021 spending review to rebuild 200 schools a year was turned down despite warnings of a “critical risk to life”.

Asked about when schools which have been affected by the crumbling Raac concrete, the PM’s spokesman said the government “can not put a specific timeline on it”.

In the schools identified as hit by the problem, mitigations will be in place “in a matter of weeks”, but there “are still some outstanding surveys”.

One in 20 schools sent surveys to identify Raac by the DfE have not responded, the spokesman confirmed.

[6 September 2023 15:09 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

Some schools with crumbling concrete may have to be demolished, experts warn

Some of the English schools found to have the crumbling concrete may have to be demolished if repairs become too expensive, experts have told The Independent.

Rishi Sunak’s government – under fire over years of “underinvestment” in school repair work – has been told it could be more cost effective to write off some of the older affected schools and build new ones.

Asbestos problems in some of the 147 schools identified as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) – the problem material compared to an “Aero bar” – could complicate remedial work, said building specialists.

[6 September 2023 15:30 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

Decision to spend £34 million revamping offices ‘nothing to do with me,’ Keegan says

The decision to spend £34 million to revamp the Department for Education’s headquarters had “nothing to do with me”, the education secretary has said.

Labour’s Sarah Owen (Luton North) earlier told the Commons Gillian Keegan had to “get a grip and explain why her offices got a £34 million refurbishment when schools are crumbling under this Tory government”.

Responding to the opposition day debate, Gillian Keegan later said: “£34 million is a government building for the Department for Education that was signed off by the commercial director for the Department for Education, nothing to do with me, based on a decision made in 2019 before I was a minister.”

(PA Wire)

[6 September 2023 15:54 · Maryam Zakir-Hussain]

Starmer: Sunak’s champagne Tories put bubbly tax cut ahead of bubbly concrete

Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of putting champagne drinkers ahead of school safety by cutting the budget for rebuilding classrooms while slashing duty on bubbly.

Ahead of a showdown with the prime minister in the Commons later the Labour leader highlighted Mr Sunak’s decision to slash investment in the school estate while reducing duty on sparkling wine.

“These are choices. [Sunak] didn’t say, ‘Well, I can’t do that in relation to champagne’. He took a choice to cut the rate in relation to champagne and not to sign off the necessary funding for school,” Sir Keir told BBC News.