Campaign Reply: School Building Safety

I completely understand your concern about the disruption to students, teachers and parents at schools, colleges and maintained nursery schools which have buildings with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Over the last year, the Department for Education has been engaging with educational settings to identify buildings which may have RAAC. Up until now, the advice has been to take RAAC areas out of use immediately if assessed by surveyors as ‘critical’. Where they were assessed by surveyors as ‘non-critical’, the Department for Education did not consider the risk to require that these spaces be taken out of use. However, that position has now changed, following recent cases that came to light over the summer. 

As a consequence, from 31 August, the Department for Education has been advising schools, colleges and maintained nursery schools with buildings with RAAC confirmed by a surveyor to take the affected space out of use until suitable mitigations have been put in place. This is a necessary and precautionary step to protect the safety of students while adequate mitigations are being put in place. 

Every school or college with confirmed RAAC is assigned dedicated support from the Department's team of 80 caseworkers. Project delivery teams are on site to support schools and colleges to implement mitigation plans. They will work with them to put in place a bespoke plan that supports face-to-face education for all pupils as soon as possible based on their circumstances. Mitigation plans include other spaces on the school site, or in nearby schools or elsewhere in the local area, until building works are carried out or temporary buildings are installed.

The Government is funding the emergency work needed to mitigate the presence of RAAC, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. All reasonable requests for additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall, are being approved. The Government is funding longer-term refurbishment or rebuilding projects to address the presence of RAAC in schools. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants to fund refurbishment work to permanently remove RAAC, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, including through the School Rebuilding Programme. The Government is working closely with responsible bodies to assess what the right solution is for each case.

Whilst this is a very difficult decision, the UK Government has been proactive in addressing this issue - in sharp contrast to the devolved administrations - and has been updating guidance and prioritising the safety of students ahead of the new term. The vast majority of schools are unaffected and children should attend school as normal this term, unless parents hear differently from school leaders.  

I want to reassure pupils, parents and staff that this Government is doing whatever it takes to support our schools and colleges in responding to RAAC and minimise disruption to education.