Two inalienable political truths for governmentpublished at 12:24 British Summer Time 6 September 2023

12:24 BST 6 September 2023

Chris Mason
Political editor

The least surprising thing of the day is Keir Starmer asked about crumbling concrete.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan insists she took the tough decision to act when presented with information that would have made the alternative irresponsible.

But the two inalienable political truths for the government on this are clear: Rishi Sunak, who has attempted to define his premiership in contrast with what went immediately before, is now facing questions about his time as chancellor.

And the consequence for the government of the long stint in power for the conservatives is the scope for journalistic archaeology — peering at the building blocks of decision making more than a decade ago, which is what BBC Verify has done.

But, ministers point to the independent criticisms made of Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

And had the schools in question been refurbished, would RAAC have been removed?

The prime minister repeats his earlier answer that the government has acted "decisively" off the back of "new information" over the summer.

He says this contrasts with Labour-run Wales, where the devolved government - responsible for education - is yet to publish its own list of schools affected by RAAC.

He defends the amount given to the education department during his time as chancellor, saying he increased the department's capital budget and gave schools £5bn to recover from Covid disruption.

Starmer gives another example of a school - this time The Holy Family Catholic School in Bradford - which was also on Labour's building list in 2010 but was scrapped from the list.

He goes onto say that in April this year, the education secretary signed a contract for refurbishment of her own offices, with a personal stamp of approval on it. He says it cost £34m.

Starmer asks whether Sunak can explain to parents whose children aren't at school this week "why he thinks a blank cheque for a Tory minister's office is better use of tax payers' money than stopping schools collapsing?"

"This is exactly the kind of opportunities we expect from Captain Hindsight", replies Sunak, again saying the issue was never once raised by the opposition from across the dispatch box.

The prime minister says the UK has gone from two-thirds of schools being good or outstanding, it's now 90%.

Sunak ends by saying children in England are now the best readers in the Western world.

Sir Keir Starmer continues by saying another County Durham school, affected by RAAC, was on the 2010 Labour school rebuilding list but did not end up getting rebuilt under a Tory government.

He says it is an "inevitable result of cutting corners" and the sort of thing you "expect from cowboy builders".

"The cowboys are running the country," he adds while "children cower under steel supports".

Sunak launches an attack on the previous Labour government's school rebuilding programme.

He says the National Audit Office, the government spending watchdog, found it excluded 80% of schools and the scheme was "needlessly wasting resources".

He says the programme was found to be "time consuming and expensive" - adding this is "just like the Labour Party".

Starmer next raises Carmel College in Darlington, which was on Labour's building list in 2010. He says the project was scrapped and now children there are in "a crumbling school".

He says there's a simple way to clear up whether the prime minister had anything to do with this.

He asks why the PM hasn't committed to publishing the requests from the Department for Education for the school rebuilding programme and what risks he was warned of before he turned them down for funding?

The prime minister responds to Starmer's question by saying: "The professional advice on RAAC has changed over time and that successive governments have dealt with it since 1994" - adding the government "has swiftly acted in the face of that advice".

He then lays out what he refers to as facts, saying: Funding for maintenance and rebuilding will be £2.6bn per year over this Parliament"

Sunak says this is a 20% increase on the years before and that spending review maintained the school rebuilding programme, delivering 500 schools over 10 years.

He ends by saying Labour didn't raise RAAC once during the debates on that review.

Sir Keir Starmer says Wood Green Academy in Sandwell, West Midlands, was set to be rebuilt but thanks to funding being cut it was not.

The Labour leader says it is now "crumbling" thanks to RAAC. He also mentions how the National Audit Office say the government has cut £869m for schools rebuilding.

Starmer asks why does everyone say the prime minister is at fault, when Sunak denies responsibility?

In reply, the prime minister says the government is doing "everything it can to fix this quickly" and minimise disruption.

He adds ministers have acted "decisively" in the face of "new information".

He says each school will be given a dedicated caseworker to help with repairs and there will be "extra funding" for refurbishments.

He adds that the "vast majority" of schools in England are not affected by RAAC.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer starts off by congratulating the Lionesses and extending his own condolences to Sgt Graham Saville - the Nottinghamshire police officer who was killed on duty.

He goes on to extend his warmest welcome for the new Labour MP for Selby and Ainsty, saying he made history by overturning the largest Tory majority ever in a by-election.

He also welcomes the new MPs for Uxbridge and South Ruislip and Somerton and Frome.

He goes on to address the concrete crisis in schools now, asking whether the PM agrees with his education secretary that he should be thanked for doing a good job?

Sunak has two main taskspublished at 12:05 British Summer Time 6 September 2023

12:05 BST 6 September 2023

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

It is Rishi Sunak’s first time back in the House of Commons after Parliament’s summer break. Just a week ago, nobody would have expected the topic at the top of the agenda to be concrete.

But the RAAC problem has rocketed to the top of political agenda this week. Sir Keir Starmer is doubtless going to use it to press his case that the Conservatives have presided over — as Labour like to term them — 13 wasted years.

Sunak’s task in response is two-fold. First, he needs to reassure the public, and since this is PMQs, Conservative MPs, that he and Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, have gripped the issue.

The publication moments before PMQs began of the list of schools in England affected will help Sunak demonstrate progress, at least in the communication to parents.

His second task is more political. Starmer spies an opportunity in this row to tie Sunak, who only became an MP in 2015 and a minister in 2018, to the decisions of every Conservative government since 2010.

That is because of the allegation made by a former senior official, furiously rejected by Sunak, that as chancellor in 2021 he halved the number of schools eligible for refurbishment.

Sunak will be eager to defend his own record so he can move on to presenting himself as the prime minister who can solve the problem.

So here we are.

Before the questioning gets under way, Sunak begins by congratulating the Lionesses for finishing second at the football Women's World Cup

He then sends his condolences to Sgt Graham Saville who died trying to save a man's life on a train track.

We're watching the Commons now for the return of Prime Minister's Questions.

Expect Rishi Sunak to be quizzed on RAAC, and will the Conservatives look to make the most out of Birmingham City Council - which is run by Labour - being declared effectively bankrupt?

Stay with us for all the action, and don't forget you can watch it all without leaving this page. Just click Play at the top.

Image source, PA Media

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has left No 10 Downing Street and will be at the House of Commons shortly where he will take MPs' questions.

We'll bring you all the updates here and don't forget you can watch by clicking Play at the top of this page.

Working through the government's data, only four schools will be "fully remote learning".

These are:

• St Gregory's Catholic Science College, Harrow
• St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham
• St Anne's Catholic Primary School, Harlow Green, Gateshead
• St Benet's Catholic Primary School, Ouston, Chester-le-Street

Nineteen schools have had their start to the new term delayed, according to the Department for Education's data.

These include:

• Hornsey School for Girls
• St William of York Catholic Primary School
• Hatfield Peverel St Andrew's Junior School
• Our Lady's Catholic High School, Preston
• Outwoods Primary School
• Hadleigh High School
• East Bergholt High School Ark
• Boulton Academy
• Woodville Primary School
• Water Lane Primary Academy
• Cherry Tree Academy
• Arthur Bugler Primary School
• Claydon High School
• Kingsdown School, Southend-on-Sea
• Ferryhill School
• St Teresa's Catholic Primary School
• St Francis' Catholic Primary School, Newham
• Buckhurst Hill Community Primary School
• The Holy Family Catholic School, in Keighley

Rob Corp
Live reporter

That's the list of schools in England as published by the Department for Education. As we said earlier, it could be only one part of the school site is affected, and that temporary arrangements have been made to avoid disrupting children's education.

On desktop you can CTRL-F to search for a school name. We are now tidying up the list - which was published on the DfE website as a spreadsheet - to add locations where the school name is ambiguous.

We're looking now to see how badly affected each school and college is.

(Apologies if the formatting went a bit askew - we hope now you can see the information clearly)

• Ferryhill School

• Wyburns Primary School

• Jerounds Primary Academy

• Roding Valley High School

• Lambourne Primary School

• Hillhouse CofE Primary School, Waltham Abbey

• Barnes Farm Junior School

• St Elizabeth's Catholic Voluntary Academy, Derby

• Hockley Primary School

• Chipping Ongar Primary School

• Langney Primary Academy

• St Teresa's Catholic Primary School

• St Mary and St John Junior and Infant School

• St John Catholic Primary School, Rickmansworth

• St Anne's Catholic Primary School, Harlow Green

• St Francis' Catholic Primary School, Newham

• Buckhurst Hill Community Primary School

• Sunny Bank Primary School

• St Benet's Catholic Primary School, Ouston

• St Bede's Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College

• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Hebburn

• Wells Park School, Chigwell

• St James' Catholic Primary School, Hebburn

• St John Bosco Catholic Primary School, Town End Farm, Sunderland

• St Columba's Catholic Primary School, Wallsend

• St John Vianney Catholic Primary School, West Denton

• The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy, Keighley

• St Michael's Catholic School, High Wycombe

• Elmstead Primary School

• The London Oratory School

• Tendring Technology College
• East Bergholt High School

• Hounsdown School

• Thurstable School Sports College and Sixth Form Centre

• Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School

• Waddesdon Church of England School

• Wallingford School

• Woodkirk Academy, Wakefield

• Batley Girls High School

• St Clere's School

• Sandbach School

• Carmel College, Darlington

• Anglo European School

• St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon

• The Gilberd School

• The Thomas Lord Audley School

• St Helena School

• East Tilbury Primary School

• Clacton County High School

• White Hall Academy and Nursery

• Altrincham College

• Cleeve Park School

• Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport

• Danetree Primary School

• The Bromfords School

• Royal College Manchester (Seashell Trust)

• The Ramsey Academy, Halstead

• Redhill School, Dudley

• Ark Boulton Academy, Birmingham

• Woodville Primary School, Chelmsford

• Holy Trinity Catholic Voluntary Academy

• Thomas Bullock Church of England Primary and Nursery Academy

• Water Lane Primary Academy, Harlow

• Katherine Semar Junior School

• Katherine Semar Infant School

• Mistley Norman Church of England Primary School

• Hatfield Heath Primary School

• St Thomas More Catholic Comprehensive School

• Godinton Primary School

• St Francis Catholic Primary School, South Ascot

• The FitzWimarc School

• Winter Gardens Academy

• Cherry Tree Academy

• Prince Albert Junior and Infant School

• Cockermouth School

• Northampton International Academy

• St Gregory's Catholic Science College

• Bishop Douglass School Finchley

• Lubbins Park Primary Academy

• Scalby School

• Arthur Bugler Primary School

• St Leonard's Catholic School, Durham

• Canon Slade School

• Claydon High School

• Harlowbury Primary School

• Kingsdown School
• Katherines Primary Academy and Nursery

• Sir Thomas Boughey Academy

• Harwich and Dovercourt High School