Jamie Whitehead
Live reporter

This is the end of our live coverage. We appreciate you joining us, and hope you have a great evening.

If you're interested in learning more about the risks of RAAC concrete, you can read these stories:

• Are other buildings at risk of concrete failure?
• Which schools have shut buildings or moved pupils?
• Heads in weekend dash to make schools safe to open
• What is RAAC concrete and why is it a safety risk?

This page was edited by Emily McGarvey, Rob Corp, Heather Sharp and me. The writers were Jack Burgess, Gem O'Reilly, Ali Abbas Ahmadi, Oliver Slow, Victoria Lindrea, Sam Hancock, Jacqueline Howard, and Ece Goksedef.

Our live page on the continuing crisis over unstable concrete in schools is pausing shortly. Here's a quick recap of what happened today:

• Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the list of 156 schools at risk from crumbling concrete, or RAAC, will be published this week
• Schools suspected to have RAAC will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, Keegan said, stressing in most cases no RAAC will be found
• She said 95% of schools have responded to the government's survey about RAAC being present, but she remains concerned about the 5% of schools that have not completed the survey
• Her frustration appeared to boil over, after she swore during an "off-the-cuff" remark following an ITV interview, which she later apologised for
• Keegan said she has been “engaging urgently” with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to understand the scale of the issue
• PM Rishi Sunak defended his school budget after a former DfE civil servant accused the government of delivering a fraction of the funding required to address RAAC in schools
• Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson described the situation as an "utter shambles", while Labour leader Keir Starmer said the government's handling of the situation "is descending into a farce"

We told you earlier about St Leonard's Catholic School in Durham, which is currently closed due to having RAAC.

It has since said it is planning to use the Radisson hotel for two days this week for lessons for sixth formers.

In an email sent to parents on Monday, which has been seen by the PA news agency, the school said staff had also looked at potential teaching space at the University of Durham.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has just been on Sky News - she smiles and appears to have a little laugh when played the clip of her "choice" language earlier.

Asking if she has done a "[expletive] good job" - as she said - she said she hadn't been talking about herself, but had been talking about the Department for Education as a whole.

What are other UK nations doing about RAAC?published at 19:50 British Summer Time 4 September 2023

19:50 BST 4 September 2023

Earlier today, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan compared the UK’s government’s knowledge of RAAC in schools with that of the Welsh government, telling Radio 4’s Today programme: “They don’t know anything about RAAC in Labour-run Wales.”

However, the Welsh government commissioned, in May 2023, a survey of school buildings in Wales. The results of the survey are expected in two weeks, but the Welsh government says two schools on Anglesey have closed because of concerns over concrete.

What about the other UK nations?

Scotland has already started to inspect its school buildings and announced 35 schools have been found to contain RAAC. But Scottish National Party leader Humza Yousaf has said a full inspection – of schools and other public buildings – could take “some months”.

Northern Ireland says it will conduct a similar survey of its schools.

Anna Reeve-Cook is a performing arts teacher at Hatfield Heath primary school in Hertfordshire.

Her company has been providing music and singing lessons at the school since 2019.

She has had last minute cancellations this morning as the school will be closing. She is losing £1,160 as a result.

Anna said: "We've already invoiced the parents for this term and now we're going to have to refund all of them £145.

I think the school has dealt with it brilliantly but my issue is how the government has dealt with it."

Anna adds that the plan to repair buildings was in place when Labour was in power, but it was the Conservatives "that scrapped it and that's impacted everybody".

"There are parents who can't work now and are going to have to stay at home and look after their children just like in Covid times," she added.

How much has the government spent refurbishing schools?published at 19:22 British Summer Time 4 September 2023

19:22 BST 4 September 2023

Earlier, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan was asked on BBC Breakfast if the problems with crumbing concrete were the result of underspending on schools.

She replied: "We've spent £15bn since 2015".

That’s actually a slight underestimate of how much the government has spent on refurbishing and rebuilding schools.

About £1.7bn a year is spent “maintaining and improving the condition of school buildings and grounds”.

On top of that, the Department for Education has been spending about £0.6bn a year on rebuilding schools.

However, the total amount is still significantly less than the department itself says it needs to bring school buildings up to scratch.

In 2020, it said it would need £4bn a year for repairing, maintaining and rebuilding schools over the next five years.

And that figure is itself at the low end of estimates from the Office of Government Property, external, the government’s property agency. It said in 2019 the amount needed was somewhere between £4bn and £8bn.

A mum in Durham said she was "absolutely devastated" to learn that her daughter would not be able to return to school as the new term begins.

Jill Simpson received an email on Friday saying St Leonard's Catholic School would not be reopening after RAAC was found on the premises.

Teaching will be done online for the foreseeable future.

"I think the government should have jumped on this as soon as they found out," Simpson told PA News agency.

"Why wait until four days before they are due to go back to school? It's not fair on the children."

She added: "My daughter's grades are slipping due to loss of school and teachers' strikes and Covid, so we now have to get a private tutor."

Alice Evans, BBC News

Image source, BBC/ALEX HOMER

A head teacher who has had to delay the start of term because one of his school buildings contains dangerous concrete was denied funding to rebuild it.

"Other schools had a higher need", the Department for Education (DfE) told Myton School, in Warwick, last year, when its application for extra cash from the government's School Rebuilding Programme was rejected.

Since then, a structural engineer has confirmed RAAC panelling in the first floor of the lower-school building, meaning it is now one of dozens unable to open for the new school year.

"I don't know how they make these decisions - but the fact I've got to close down or at least partially close down a block in a building that we bid to rebuild… it doesn't feel like the parts of the DfE are particularly joined up here," head teacher Andy Perry told the BBC.

The DfE has been contacted for comment.

Read the full story here.

Heidi Austin's son, Elliott, was due back at East Bergholt High in Essex this Thursday, but has already had the start of the new school year delayed by a day after RAAC was highlighted as a potential danger.

"The school are trying to secure temporary classrooms, but they are in extremely short supply," Heidi said.

She added: "My biggest concern is school budgets are already squeezed - where is the money going to come from to create these repairs, but also support individual educational needs of the students?"

"Our school is doing what they can to manage the situation, but it's all the unknown questions that aren't being answered - that's what's worrying me."

Overdue school repairs required amid budget squeezepublished at 18:58 British Summer Time 4 September 2023

18:58 BST 4 September 2023

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

We saw it in the 2010 austerity government. We actually also saw it again about a year ago after the mini-budget when they squeezed capital spending.

People can’t see these cuts to investment, maintenance and repair - but eventually that catches up with you.

Where the government has protected the spending on hospitals, on transport or on science, for schools it’s been cut back from the peak in 2010 by about 50%. You can’t do that over years and years without seeing some consequences.

So if you’re looking for the money for this overdue repair bill, you either forget your strict rules and borrow more; or you tax more or cut spending in other areas. Is it hospitals? Is it transport?

It’s some irony that the massive bill for these overdue school repairs has come in at the precise moment when the capital investment budget is being squeezed again.

Pupils at Lorne Primary school in Edinburgh have been removed from their classrooms and are being taught in other parts of the school after aerated concrete (RAAC) was identified in the building.

Edinburgh Council say four classes are affected by the partial closure which took effect this morning at the Leith Primary.

It brings the total number of schools affected in the Edinburgh local authority area to eight.

First Minister Humza Yousaf said there is no immediate risk to pupils and staff in Scottish schools and sites will continue to be monitored.

A total of 35 council-run schools have been found to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

A political mess with no obvious endpublished at 18:37 British Summer Time 4 September 2023

18:37 BST 4 September 2023

Chris Mason
Political editor

You probably hadn’t heard of it until the other day.

But this concrete that can start crumbling is building into a political mess without obvious end.

The remarks, on BBC Radio 4 this morning, by the former most senior civil servant in the Department for Education, Jonathan Slater, amounted to an intervention with the most precise political coordinates: the target...Rishi Sunak.

The then chancellor, now prime minister. Decisions he took then, and his critics say he can't disown now.

Data from the National Audit Office shows the budget for school repairs in England has shrivelled between 2019 and now.

But there are always competing priorities for spending - and the context at the time matters.

Speaking to those involved in the internal negotiations in government back then, folk in the Department for Education did want more money for school repairs; the Treasury wasn’t persuaded.

But – I’m told – funding per pupil and teachers’ pay were bigger priorities; this particular concrete wasn’t perceived to be as dangerous as it is now.

That is the big thing that has changed here - the judgement on the tolerable risk associated with this concrete.

The consequences - not just schools, but for hospitals, courts and other public buildings - and so, yes, for the government, are likely to grow further.

Image source, .

It's been an eventful day for Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, who earlier apologised for swearing in "off-the-cuff remarks" after an ITV interview.

She's just addressed the House of Commons about the latest on the crumbling concrete crisis in schools, and here's a recap of what she said:

• The government will publish a list of 156 schools with confirmed high-risk RAAC this week
• Keegan says 95% of schools have responded to the government's survey about RAAC being present, but she's concerned about the 5% of schools that haven’t
• All schools that are suspected to have Raac will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, and most "cases will not have Raac"

• They government will "spend whatever it takes" to keep children safe
• Keegan has been “engaging urgently” with devolved nations to understand the scale of the issue in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Conservative MP Mark Francois says he regrets to hear differences in what he's hearing between headteachers in his constituency and what he's been told by the education department.

He asks if when the list is published, Keegan can make sure the information in it is absolutely accurate and up-to-date.

Keegan replies by saying "the list and the information will evolve over time as we get more and more details".

We’re going to leave our live updates from the House of Commons there, but stay with us as we continue to bring you analysis and reaction into the evening.

Another Labour MP, Jess Phillips, says that one of the concerns in her constituency is that schools are expecting Ofsted to come in this week, after teachers were forced to change everything over the weekend.

“Can the secretary of state give assurances that this will not be allowed to happen”, she asks?

Keegan responds that Phillips could give her the details of the expected Ofsted inspections and that she would raise a request to delay visits if possible.

Image source, Parliament TV

Labour MP Rushanara Ali says that after Grenfell many raised concerns about risks to other buildings because of other materials, but that "fell on deaf ears."

She asks: "Can the secretary of state explain to parents concerned that their children are going to be safe and that she's going to put in the support that is needed urgently to respond to this crisis?"

Keegan responds to this by saying that: "The Labour Party was also warned in 1999, 2002 and 2007, what did they do? Nothing. Not a single survey."

She explains that as soon as they had the collapse of the school in 2018 they "issued a warning to all responsible bodies" and guidance on how to identify RAAC.

Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin says eight schools have been identified with RAAC issues in his constituency.

He asks how many schools each caseworker is having to deal with and says it would be helpful if MPs could contact caseworkers.

Keegan responds by saying there are over 50 case workers dealing with two schools each, more or less.

In terms of accessing them, she reiterates caseworkers are focused on schools, and the government helpline will give MPs the same information.

Labour MP Stephanie Peacock asks if the government has carried out an assessment comparing schools that received funding through Building Schools for the Future with those that have RAAC concrete.

Keegan says she has and that it “wasn’t very many”, describing the programme as “bureaucratic” and having failed to deliver.

The BSF programme was launched in 2004 by then Labour prime minister Tony Blair, which aimed to rebuild and refurbish every secondary school in England. It was scrapped in 2010.

It is right that children's safety comes first, says Conservative MP Vicky Ford, "but it is also right that we're mindful of the language that we use towards children and don't make them more frightened than they need to be".

She urges her colleagues not to "over-exaggerate" the risks of RAAC but to work with each affected school "calmly".

Keegan responds by agreeing with Ford.

“What's most important is that disruption to children is minimised,” she says, “and everyone has to work together to ensure they are back to school as soon as possible.”