Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what representations his Department is making to his Saudi counterpart on the death sentence passed on Mohammed al-Ghamdi.
Answered by David Rutley
Saudi Arabia remains an FCDO Human Rights Priority Country, in part because of the continued use of the death penalty. The UK strongly opposes the death penalty in all countries and circumstances. The Minister for the Middle East and Human Rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon has raised these cases with the Saudi authorities. We will continue to monitor them.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2023 to Question 200806 on Schools: Buildings, what her Department's unallocated budget is for the 2023-24 financial year; and how much and what proportion of that unallocated budget has been ringfenced to support schools affected by RAAC.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospitals outside of those included in the New Hospital Programme have been identified to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete; and whether his Department plans to fund emergency mitigation works to those hospitals.
Answered by Will Quince
As of 17 October 2023, there are 42 hospital sites with confirmed reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). Of these, seven are in the New Hospital Programme and will be fully replaced by 2030. All hospital sites with confirmed RAAC are in NHS England’s ongoing national RAAC programme. This is backed by significant additional funding of £698 million from 2021 to 2025 for trusts to put in place necessary remediation and failsafe measures. National funding is allocated annually based on National Health Service trust plans and delivery progress.
The Department has published a full list of hospitals with confirmed RAAC, which is available at the following link:
Where structural surveys identify RAAC in their estate, trusts are inducted into the national remediation programme. Each site will be different, and just because RAAC is present, it does not necessarily mean there is a high risk.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many confiscation orders of what value the Serious Fraud Office obtained in the last ten years.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Serious Fraud Office has obtained 68 confiscation orders totalling £202,000,000 since 1st April 2014.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2023 to question 199083, and with reference to the budgets used to fund emergency mitigation works for schools with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, whether that money would have been used for other Department capital projects; and if he will publish details of what those capital projects would have been.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is the responsibility of those who run schools - academy trusts, Local Authorities and voluntary aided school bodies - to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the Department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the Department is made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.
The Department will spend whatever it takes to keep children safe. It will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, the Department expects all reasonable requests will be approved. The Department will then also fund refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects, to rectify the RAAC issue for the long term. The Department will set out further details for affected schools and colleges in due course.
The Department will work with the relevant responsible body, which will depend on the type of school or college with confirmed RAAC. Every case will be different, and the Department is working closely with affected schools and colleges to understand and support their needs, including with capital funding.
The Department’s immediate support will be managed from unallocated departmental budgets. This will not impact existing programmes.
The Department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in education settings at the heart of its policy decisions. The Government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what costs the Serious Fraud office incurred in cases where individuals were acquitted in the last ten years.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Serious Fraud Office has paid out £7.485 million in judge-directed acquittals in cases where individuals were acquitted during the past 10 years.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what provision the Serious Fraud Office made in its Annual Report 2022-23 for special payments for the case involving three executives of G4S.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
The Serious Fraud Office’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2022-23 included a provision of £6 million to cover any claims that could be made during the year in relation to casework outcomes, this would include any settlements that result from ongoing claims relating to G4S, which have yet to be agreed.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether any court buildings have been identified as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC); and whether his Department plans to fund emergency mitigation works to any courts in which RAAC is identified.
Answered by Mike Freer
I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 26 September 2023 to Question 199292:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-09-13/199292.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many corporate self-reports the Serious Fraud Office has received in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
In financial year 2018/19 the SFO received 7 corporate self-reports.
In financial year 2019/20 the SFO received 6 corporate self-reports.
In financial year 2020/21 the SFO received 3 corporate self-reports.
In financial year 2021/22 the SFO received 8 corporate self-reports.
In financial year 2022/23 the SFO received 8 corporate self-reports.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, from which budget the Government will allocate funds for remedial work to schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. It has always been the case that where we are made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, the Department takes immediate action.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day-to-day basis, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert us if there is a concern with a building.
The Department has acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue. This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. The Department issued comprehensive guidance in 2018, and subsequent years, to all responsible bodies highlighting the potential risks associated with RAAC and supporting them to identify this within their buildings, as well as to take appropriate steps in meeting their obligations to keep buildings safe. The most recent guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-estates-guidance.
There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England, and the vast majority are unaffected. A significant proportion of the estate was built outside the period where RAAC was used, with around one third of the estate built since 2001, therefore, the Department has focused efforts on buildings built in the post-war decades.
The Department issued a questionnaire in March 2022, asking responsible bodies to inform the Department of any suspected RAAC identified in their estates. Responsible bodies have submitted questionnaires for over 98% of schools with blocks built in the target era, of which there are 14,900. We are pressing all remaining schools to get checks completed, to determine which schools require surveys.
The Department is contacting responsible bodies to help them respond to this request and to advise on what needs to be done, so that they can establish whether they believe they have RAAC. This work will continue until we have a response for all target era schools.
Schools and colleges where RAAC is suspected are being fast tracked for surveying, which is used to confirm whether RAAC is actually present. All schools and colleges that have already told us they suspect they might have RAAC will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, in many cases in a matter of days.
All schools where RAAC is confirmed are provided with a dedicated caseworker to support them and help implement a mitigation plan and minimise the disruption to children’s learning.
Across Government, Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out. The Department for Education published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September, and committed to providing further updates.
Schools will contact parents where RAAC is identified and inform them of any impacts on their child. The vast majority of schools are unaffected. Any parents that are unsure if their child’s school is affected should contact their school directly.
While some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to pupil learning and ensure that pupils continue to receive face-to-face teaching. Where there is any disturbance to face-to-face education, schools will prioritise attendance for vulnerable children and young people and children of key workers. The guidance published by the Department in August also includes guidance on provision for pupils with SEND and sets out expectations that schools continue to provide free school meals to eligible pupils.
The Department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall or office, the department will provide that support for all reasonable requests. The Department will also fund longer term refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to rectify the RAAC issue in the long term.
All previously confirmed Schol Rebuilding Programme projects announced in 2021 and 2022 will continue to go ahead. A full list of confirmed projects can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Further information on RAAC in education settings is available on the Education Hub: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/new-guidance-on-raac-in-education-settings/.