Crumbling concrete crisis a "colossal shambles" as more schools added to list

Yesterday, School system minister Baroness Barran and the DfE’s top official, permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood, were questioned by MPs on the Education Select Committee, and said almost 250 temporary classrooms have been ordered by at least 29 schools.

Baroness Barran said the number of schools affected by Raac that were now able to give face-to-face teaching had increased since the start of term.

But Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, said the situation had been brought about by “years of neglect and underinvestment”.

And Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson scalded the education secretary Gillian Keegan in the Commons, saying: “The motto she has made her own: ‘nothing to do with me’. She had done a ‘good job’ while others had been ‘sat on their backsides’.

“I ask the Secretary of State whether she still thinks that is good enough and I ask her more simply, how on earth, even under this Prime Minister weak as he is, even under this Government, how on earth did she think she could get away with going on holiday rather than taking any form of action at all?

“Will she at last take responsibility for 13 years of failure, three weeks of chaos, and for the years stretching ahead of our children sitting under steel girders? When will all of our children be back in their own schools and back in their own classrooms?”

Ms Keegan responded: “In terms of my own decision, I went abroad because that was the first time I could go abroad. I went abroad for my father’s birthday knowing that I would still be chairing the meetings, which I did on the Saturday, on the Sunday, on the Monday, and then I made the decision as we had now made the decision to come back from holiday immediately.”

Reacting to the news that more schools had been added to the list, Mr Whiteman said: “The 27 schools additionally identified today will all be working tirelessly to make sure children get the education they deserve despite the disruption.

“But we still need a real sense of a clear plan not just to put short-term mitigation measures in place, but to properly repair or replace buildings so they are fit for purpose.

“Propping up ceilings with metal poles is clearly not a serious option in the medium or long term.

“Too many schools have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair and the current crisis is just one symptom of a problem that has been long in the making.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: “This number (of affected schools) is certain to grow as other schools are properly inspected.”