Labour and Lib Dems see RAAC as evidence of crumbling statepublished at 13:03 British Summer Time 1 September 2023

13:03 BST 1 September 2023

Pete Saull
Political Correspondent, BBC Westminster

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been quick to attack the government's handling of the RAAC issue - arguing ministers could have acted more decisively and sooner.

It's further evidence, they argue, that public services are crumbling - both literally and figuratively - under the Conservatives.

However the Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, insisted the government had been "very proactive", and when new evidence came to light, his department moved quickly.

England certainly isn't alone in having to deal with RAAC, with Gibb suggesting the UK's other nations - and foreign countries - were playing catch up.

The problem of what to do with buildings made of this now infamous material has been on the political agenda for some time, as the National Audit Office warned in June that 700,000 pupils were learning in a school that needed major work.

Other public buildings, from hospitals to prisons, also require upgrades meaning RAAC will continue to be a problem for whoever's in government beyond the general election.

Leila Nathoo
Political correspondent

The BBC understands that there were three specific cases involving RAAC failure over the summer that prompted the Department for Education (DfE) to change its guidance to schools yesterday.

While the first case was reported in late July, the most recent occurred last week in an educational setting in England which was the trigger for the updated advice to schools and is still being investigated.

All three cases where RAAC that would have been graded as low-risk was found to be unsafe.

One DfE source said that of the 52 schools in which RAAC had been deemed to be in a critical condition and where mitigations have already been put in place this year, the average length of disruption caused was six days.

It's understood there is a cross-government working group on RAAC and other departments were made aware of the DfE's change in approach.

But multiple government sources stressed the differences between school buildings and hospitals - which are fewer and have dedicated maintenance teams.

The Department for Health said in a statement following the DfE's decision that 'the current approach to monitoring and mitigation [in hospital buildings] remains appropriate."

We know more than a hundred schools have been affected by the government’s decision to put in safety measures for buildings which have RAAC concrete.

And while this is thought to mean parts of sites, be they classrooms, wings or entire buildings, it's been reported today that some schools will have to close entirely.

A report by the PA news agency states that 24 schools will be completely shut because of potentially dangerous concrete in their structures.

The BBC is working to verify the number of schools that may be forced to close because of concerns that the presence of RAAC could cause buildings to collapse as they come to the end of their lifespan.

Cas Evans, head teacher of Parks Primary in Leicester, has told BBC 5 Live the school received a sudden closure notice in May that required relocating six classes - around 250 students.

"We were able to keep year 1 and 2 classes, but all offices, toilets and kitchens were closed overnight," she said.

The relocation would not only affect the teachers and students, but also the families with "children in different year groups".

Parks Primary and all of its resources were relocated to a children’s centre nearby – but additional costs built up to £30,000.

"It was made clear to us and has continued to be made clear that the cost is our responsibility," the head said.

Helena Wilkinson
Reporting from south London

Corpus Christi Catholic primary school in Brixton, south London, has had to relocate some of its pupils after RAAC concrete was found in the roof of part of the junior site.

Jane Frances, 46, who has two children here, told me her daughter will have to travel to a different location around a mile away for the start of term.

It means a “double drop off and pick up” for Jane as her son will stay in the “safe and useable” part of the school.

“It’s quite disruptive, but actually you can’t take any chances with the children’s safety and that’s what’s got to be done,” Jane told me.

She also has sympathy for parents who do not yet know if their children’s school is one of those affected.

"I’m a teacher and I know the other side. It’s going to be a lot to think about very close to the start of term again.”

Image source, PA Media

Chris Goodier, a professor of construction engineering and materials at Loughborough University, has been on Nicky Campbell's Radio 5 Live show.

He said a major problem with assessing RAAC is that the rate of deterioration will vary between each building. And that's because of factors like weather, how the building is used, and how it is maintained.

"No material has a 30-year perfect life and then stops at 31," he said. "Even if they have been built the same, those buildings will be in different conditions, some will be fine and some will be suffering."

He added that, in general, the UK has "a very ageing building stock", and "very little of it has been maintained properly because it's very expensive to do it properly".

What are other UK nations doing about RAAC?published at 11:52 British Summer Time 1 September 2023

11:52 BST 1 September 2023

Education Minister Nick Gibb has said the government began surveying school buildings in England last year, contrasting it with the situation in Wales.

He told Radio 4’s Today programme earlier: “Today, Labour-run Wales is for the first time starting those surveys, we started those surveys in 2022”.

It is true that the Welsh government has recently announced that a survey of its schools "will identify any structures suspected of containing RAAC".

However, it also said that so far it has not received any reports of RAAC being present within schools or colleges.

But what about the other UK nations?

• Northern Ireland says it will conduct a similar survey of its schools
• Scotland has already started to inspect RAAC in its school buildings

A full report on how many schools in Scotland are affected is due to be delivered to the government “in the coming days”.

The senior vice chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), Kevin Bentley, says he received notice just yesterday that 50 schools in Essex had been identified as having RAAC, and some will have to close.

There are 550 schools in Essex and 220,000 pupils, he says. Out of the 50 notified with having RAAC, the council is responsible for 14 of them.

"Of those 14, three of them are likely to have to close," says Essex County Council leader Bentley.

Asked how they plan to replace three entire schools just days before the start of term, Bentley says "it's a challenge and we're working on that now".

He says the focus now is on pupils' education continuing and the safety of students and teachers.

We know from the government that 156 schools in England are affected by the safety issue with RAAC concrete and are being told they either need to put safety measures in place or move lessons to temporary classrooms.

This morning though Schools Minister Nick Gibb accepted the problem could affect more buildings.

This is because head teachers are being sent questionnaires where they are being asked to identify the existence of RAAC in their schools.

As he told GB News earlier: "The issue is any extensions or schools built in that period [1950s-1980s], and that's where we've been focusing our surveys and evidence-gathering since 2022, so we know where RAAC is in the school estate.

"It's in 156 schools. There may be more after that as these questionnaires continue to be surveyed and we continue to do more surveying work."

Image source, PA Media

The government has not published which schools may be closed for containing RAAC, but the BBC has been putting together its own list. Here’s what we have so far:

Which schools have closed buildings?

• Ferryhill School, a secondary in County Durham
• Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy, Leicester
• Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School, Brixton, south London
• Crossflats Primary school, Bradford
• Eldwick Primary School, Bradford
• Kingsdown School, Southend-on-Sea

What other schools have already been dealing with RAAC?

• Parks Primary, Leicester – the school relocated several classes in May
• Mistley Norman Church of England Primary, Manningtree - children have been taught in classrooms in another school since April

Read our full explainer on the situation here.

Some schools in Wales will likely have used RAAC in their construction, an expert has claimed.

Keith Jones, director of the Institution of Civil Engineers Wales Cymru, said while infrastructure is devolved, contractors may not have recognised this boundary.

"So it's likely that it is not just in schools, it could be in any public buildings," he says.

Jones adds that it is possible buildings using RAAC "could collapse... and it isn't not just the children, it's the teachers in the schools and all the other public buildings that could be at risk".

The Welsh government has announced it will survey all state-funded schools and colleges.

At least seven schools in Scotland have been affected by safety concerns over RAAC aerated concrete which is prone to collapse.

West Lothian Council says RAAC has been found at five primary schools and four community centres. It's also been identified at one school in East Lothian and at Forres Academy in Moray, where some classrooms have been closed.

Scotland's housing minister, Paul McLennan, said he took the issue very seriously.

All Scotland's local authorities were undertaking assessments of their buildings and McLennan said he expected to receive full details of those checks next week.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have said as many as 37 Scottish schools could have buildings containing RAAC concrete - the type which has led to safety warnings in England.

Schools in Northern Ireland are being checked for problem concrete as a matter of urgency, according to the Department of Education.

The teachers' union NASUWT has written to Northern Ireland's senior official in charge of education expressing concerns about the existence of RAAC concrete and is asking for checks.

The DfE said in a statement that they have commissioned the Education Authority to carry out structural surveys to see if RAAC is present in schools in Northern Ireland.

The department added: "This work is being taken forward as a matter of urgency to ensure that any necessary mitigations are put in place promptly."

It is not yet clear how long this will take.

Read more here.

Schools minister Nick Gibb has denied a suggestion by the National Education Union that the government is "expecting schools to pay" for temporary accommodation or additional transport.

Gibb says: "The NEU has misinterpreted the guidance. We are paying for those costs.

"If in the worst case scenario a school does have to close and we put portacabins into the grounds, all that cost will be covered by the department.

"And any remedial costs to the school building, that will all be covered by the Department for Education."

As more details emerge, BBC Radio 5 Live's Nicky Campbell has been speaking to experts about the RAAC disclosure.

Gráinne Hallahan, a senior analyst at the Times Educational Supplement and a former teacher, says school maintenance "has been a problem for years".

"Our school buildings are in an awful state," says Hallahan.

"What we’re hearing about this week is a bigger part of a far bigger problem where we have been underfunding and under resourcing schools for a really long time."

This is story we know means a lot to many of you and there are many unanswered questions we're trying to get to the bottom of.

Let's have a quick recap of where we are:

• More than 100 schools and college in England have been told they need to shut classrooms or put safety measures in place because they contain a concrete which could suddenly collapse, according to the schools minister
• Nick Gibb told the BBC the updated safety advice comes after a concrete beam - which showed no sign of being unsafe - collapsed over the summer
• Gibb insisted the government will foot the bill for the costs of temporary accommodation
• The move comes as schools in England are set to start the new academic year
• Labour has demanded the government names all the affected schools
• Evidence continues to be gathered over the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) - which was used from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s
• Other public buildings including courts and hospitals were also constructed using RAAC - with many in need of remedial work or repair.
• The devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are also assessing the extent of the problem

Mary McCool
BBC Scotland News

In May the Scottish Liberal Democrats released figures that suggested 37 Scottish schools had RAAC aerated concrete.

However this morning, Scottish Government housing minister Paul McLennan told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme that only two schools had been affected by closures.

The schools – one in East Lothian and another in West Lothian – have had to put some pupils in temporary classrooms.

This does not account for the two primary schools in Edinburgh where pupils were moved to temporary classrooms in July due to the same issue.

McLennan said local authorities were “undertaking assessments” on schools and that the Scottish government was working very closely with them – he said replies were expected next week.

The Lib Dems have called on the Scottish Government to make a ministerial statement on the matter.

Education minister Nick Gibb has confirmed the government will publish a list of the schools affected by RAAC, but only once parents have heard directly from their schools.

"We will publish a list – we are talking to schools right now, every school is getting a case worker and will be supported to make the right decision to handle this RAAC issue," Nick Gibb told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"The schools are then talking to parents, and we want the parents to hear from school, not to read about it in the media first."

Once the remediation measures are put in place and the schools are in a stable place, "then we will publish the list", he said.

As we've been reporting - it's not just schools which are affected by the problems with potentially dangerous concrete but other public buildings like hospitals.

Two had already been prioritised for urgent rebuilding work - West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds and James Paget Hospital in Norfolk.

In May, another five were added - Airedale in West Yorkshire, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, Hinchingbrooke in Cambridgeshire, Mid Cheshire Leighton in Cheshire and Frimley Park in Surrey.

The NHS has asked the government to prioritise the rebuilding of these hospitals given the risks they pose to patients and staff - the full extent of which has come to light since the New Hospital Programme was first announced in 2020.

A RAAC beam that collapsed over the summer prompted the government to warn that school buildings known to such concrete in them will have to close or be made safe, Schools Minister Nick Gibb told the BBC.

"What we discovered over the summer was a number of instances, in schools and in non-schools, in England and outside England, where RAAC that had been considered to be a low risk actually turned out to be unsafe.

"So over the summer - given this evidence - we had to take a decision. And some of that evidence, by the way, was as late as last week. We had to then decide what to do given the previous advice," Gibb said.

“A beam that had no sign... that it was a critical risk and was thought to be safe collapsed," Gibb added.