Safety of School Buildings

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Wednesday 6th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

I want to start by extending my thoughts to every student, parent, teacher and school staff member who is this week having their education disrupted, unable to do their job or having to work around the clock to find alternative teaching settings. My first question is: what new evidence has been presented? I do not believe that “evidence” is the right word to be using. Through the Public Accounts Committee, NAO reports and visits, I have been looking at RAAC and, just from having a glance online, it is easy to find multiple reports, including a report from February 2022 by the Institution of Structural Engineers that says that although visual surveys help to assess the condition of panels,

“the nature of any warning signs of sudden failure at the bearings are not fully known…Not all defects are visible…panels which appear to be in a good condition may conceal hidden defects which could present a risk to the integrity of the panels…The corrosion of reinforcement could lead to large pieces of RAAC falling which presents a risk to occupants.”

So I do not believe that there is new evidence; what I believe is that the risk has come to fruition. What we need to understand is why, in this place, we have not taken the risk seriously enough when we have known since 2018 about the risk of sudden failure without any warning signs.

Thankfully, I have been informed by the DFE that it is not aware of any confirmed cases of RAAC in my constituency, but Government actions have undermined my constituents’ confidence in the inspection process. One school, which we are in close communication with, had a second survey carried out this week by the local authority after there was confusion by the Department as to whether the first survey had taken place. RAAC was not identified in either survey. However, some parts of the survey could not be completed due to the possible presence of asbestos, leaving that school in limbo, not knowing if RAAC presents a problem underneath the asbestos.

Parents should not have to worry about the safety of their children when they send them to school, and teachers should not be worried about their workplaces being at risk of collapse, but here we are. I am frankly not that surprised that the Secretary of State said it was “not the job” of the Department for Education to ensure that children are learning in safe school environments. At the start of the year, I raised the case of my constituent Carla, a parent who suffered a serious head injury after a 15-foot piece of board flew off the outside of her child’s school. She suffered significant injuries: she had a black eye and went on to have headaches—she needed to have an MRI scan—and minor scarring, and she still suffers from tinnitus. It could have been a lot worse—someone could have died as a result of that event. As Carla said in her statement to me,

“this…could have been prevented and it was pure luck that no one died”.

That happened when she was going to collect her children. It is exceedingly lucky that the three incidents this summer happened when no one was there to be hurt.

According to data from the Government, from 2017 to 2019, 27 schools in Sheffield had at least one grade C “poor” construction type, and 14 were found to have at least one grade D construction type. I have visited schools and spoken to headteachers, all of whom report a similar story of decade-old buildings going unchecked, repairs to the basics being left undone, and of struggling to manage capital budgets that have been cut over the years to fix things such as boilers. I am really concerned that, to grapple with this issue, we need to ensure that all the school estate is looked at in the round so that issues such as asbestos do not get forgotten.

While two schools benefited from the Government’s last round of funding, it was barely enough to cover the basic repairs. Many missed out on any funding at all. I have to question why the guidance to schools on this year’s funding round stated that not all RAAC is dangerous. I would like to ask the Secretary of State if she stands by that statement that not all RAAC is dangerous. Why was it not the aim to eradicate RAAC from schools, as stated by the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care?

Finally, I hope that schools will be reimbursed for the costs associated with RAAC litigation and setting up classrooms and temporary accommodation. I want to know what assurance the Secretary of State has received that the 600-odd schools awaiting inspections or that have been inspected is the upper limit of those at risk of RAAC. What assurances does she, and the Department for Education, have about the quality of the surveys being conducted?

Safety of School Buildings

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

I am obviously pleased that two schools in my area are to receive funding, announced yesterday, for urgent safeguarding interventions, fire safety compliance and urgent drainage interventions, but I raise to speak not about those schools that received funding but an incident earlier this year where my constituent Carla suffered a serious head injury while dropping off her children at school. With your permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will share Carla’s message to the House. She said:

“I have two boys, aged 9 and 10, at primary school in Sheffield. On the 12th of January a large strip of board around 15 ft long fell off the school and hit me in the face. I had a significant black eye and needed 3 weeks off work as I had no ability to concentrate. I have been left with headaches, minor scarring around my eye and I am still waiting for an ENT referral for intrusive tinnitus.

I know this accident could have been prevented and it was pure luck that no one died: 10 minutes after the accident, a classroom of children were filing out from where I had just been injured. We can’t wait until the inevitable happens before meaningful action is taken. Steps need to be taken now to ensure the safety of all children, teachers and staff.”

Clearly my constituent has had to go through a lot, and it should shame us all. It is horrifying that we have got to this point. Our children’s school buildings are literally falling apart and, as Carla said, it is surely only a matter of time before something even worse happens.

Carla is also right that this could have been prevented. Thirteen years of reckless Conservative cuts have left us with capital spending on schools cut by 50% in real terms between 2010 and 2022. Despite promises to end austerity in our schools, new capital spending pledges are a drop in the ocean. In my city, 153 of 163 schools face cuts in 2023-24 and are set collectively to lose about £7.7 million. What is worse is that Ministers are keeping parents in the dark about how bad the situation is.

This is not about sowing fear; it is about sowing facts and informing people about what is happening in our education system. For more than a year, Ministers have known that school buildings have posed a risk to life, yet still the Government refuse to tell parents or the public where these dangerous school buildings are. How can Members hold the Government to account on the money they are giving to schools, where that is being directed, and whether those are the correct places? How can we have confidence in the surveys that we have?

Parents have a right to know whether the school they send their children to is safe, and teachers have a right to know whether their workplace is at serious risk of collapse. I hope that the Minister will outline what immediate steps are being taken to ensure that the whole school estate is safe, commit to publishing that condition survey of schools and pledge finally to end austerity in our schools so that students in all our constituencies can receive the good-quality education they deserve in—importantly—a safe and supportive environment. Anything less is a complete dereliction of duty. What happened to Carla is yet another warning sign. I really hope that that warning and her message are not ignored.

SEND and Alternative Provision

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Monday 6th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Claire Coutinho]

My right hon. Friend has long campaigned for this kind of facility in Selby. I would be happy to meet him to talk further about the details. We are setting out a lot more special free schools in different areas. For those who have not got one in the recent tranche, we will, I am sure, set out more in due course, but we will also be setting out local inclusion plans, which will mean that every area has to assess and meet the needs of its children.

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

I declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on special educational needs and disabilities. I also have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyspraxia and dyslexia, so I speak with some experience of difficulties in school. I am concerned about the national standards, which I welcome, but we need to ensure that personalisation is not lost in the process and that there is not a levelling down of standards where they are currently good. I am also concerned that mental health support needs to be accessible for every single child with SEND. Can the Minister reassure me?

[Claire Coutinho]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right that national standards should not be levelled down but there should be a minimum. Across the country, there is huge variability. Some schools, colleges and early years settings do things incredibly well, and we want to ensure that we use the best evidence and make things as transparent as possible. On mental health, we are rolling out support in schools, and we are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care on child and adolescent mental health services.

Oral Answers to Questions

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb)]

The new energy bills discount scheme will mean that any schools facing energy costs above the price threshold will receive a discount on their bills until 31 March 2024. In addition, the extra funding announced at the autumn statement, £2 billion, will help schools manage higher costs, including higher energy bills. The core schools budget will total £58.8 billion by 2024-25, the highest ever level in real terms per pupil.

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

Last month Carla, a parent in my constituency, suffered a serious head injury after a large piece of cladding flew off the school building, striking her on the head. Thankfully, Carla’s injuries are not life-threatening, but we need to ensure no other parent, staff member or child is put at risk in that way. According to leaked Government reports, school buildings in England are in such bad disrepair that they are a “risk to life”. Instead of waiting for the inevitable to happen, will the Minister meet me to discuss the issue?

[Nick Gibb]

I am very happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss the issue. The ratings she refers to reflect increased numbers of structural issues identified through our continued monitoring and surveying of the schools estate, and the age of that estate. We can and do improve the life expectancy of school buildings by careful maintenance and upgrades over time. That is why we have a 10-year rebuilding programme, allocate significant capital funding each year, and provide extensive guidance on effective estate management. Whenever the Department is made aware of a dangerous building, immediate action is taken.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Review

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Tuesday 29th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

My hon. Friend is a great champion of those with dyslexia and dyspraxia and has been a great advocate for the need to make sure that every teacher has the required knowledge. I visited Monega school yesterday; a school can be outstanding only if it is outstanding in all areas, including its SEND provision. I will always listen to what my hon. Friend has to say on that.

The White Paper that I published yesterday includes the parent pledge, which is that teachers will identify students’ gaps in reading and English language and share that with parents. That should get us to the place where my hon. Friend wants us to be: one where every teacher feels confident that they have the training to identify dyslexia and dyspraxia and deal with them in the appropriate way.

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

I thank the Secretary of State for finally publishing the Green Paper, which is long overdue. How will he ensure that when the system is standardised and simplified, standards improve and are not reduced and truly recognise the unique needs of children with complex disabilities?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that important question. We will make sure that the standards and the single national integrated SEND and AP system are co-created with families, specialists and the whole sector, to make sure we get them right.

Budget Resolutions

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for North Herefordshire (Bill Wiggin). I think that must have been a record for the number of times cider has been mentioned in a Budget speech.

In November 2010, I was outside this place in Parliament Square. Alongside tens of thousands of students, I was marching in protest against the coalition Government’s decision to raise the cap on tuition fees to £9,000 a year. Our march on that day was the first of many demonstrations, rallies, and direct actions to protest about first the coalition’s and subsequently the Conservative Government’s austerity agenda. That agenda set fire to our public services, and led to stagnating wages and an explosion of low pay, zero-hours jobs. It is the reason we were so poorly placed to weather the economic storm unleashed by the pandemic, and it is why the UK suffered the deepest recession in Europe.

However, I am also talking about 2010 because I think that the Chancellor and I may share a love of 1980s movies. When the Chancellor spoke about public services in his Budget last week, I felt like Marty McFly in the film “Back to the Future”. On health, the Chancellor told us that

“the health capital budget will be the largest since 2010”.

On housing, he told us that we would see

“the largest cash investment in a decade”.

On education, he told us that he would

“restore per-pupil funding to 2010 levels”. —[Official Report, 27 October 2021; Vol. 702, c. 277-78.]

However, the issue is not only public services but wages too. The Institute for Fiscal Studies tells us that in real terms, wages will continue to stagnate at the same level as they were in 2008. The only difference between now and then is over a decade of Conservative Government and economic vandalism.

This is a “Back to the Future” Budget, but on some things we are not even going back to 2010. Take childcare: the Government have now realised that the first 1,001 days of a child’s life are the most important, but after shutting 1,000 Sure Start centres, they have announced funding for only 75 new family hubs. The same is true for youth services. The Chancellor told us that he would provide £560 million for youth services, but according to the YMCA, since 2010 when we began our protests against the coalition, youth services have been cut by £959 million —nearly £1 billion.

As in 2010, people are marching in the streets, but today it is not Parliament Square; it is Glasgow, and they are marching for action on the climate emergency. Rather than action, this Budget offered them tax breaks on domestic flights and the Government are giving them another coal mine in Cumbria and an oilfield in Shetland and financing gas in Mozambique. They are not building anything back better; in some cases, they are building back far worse. The Chancellor has fired up the DeLorean and taken us back to 2010, when what we need is an economy fit for the future. And no, I am not talking about hoverboards or flying cars.

This was a chance to meet the challenge of the climate emergency with a radical green new deal. It was a chance to offer a real deal on wages, rather than giving with one hand and taking away with the other. And it was a chance to reverse the crisis in our public services, to put more money into our schools and hospitals and to invest in our children. Looking at the Members on the Conservative Benches, I am reminded of the uncomprehending faces of the 1955 audience as they look up at Marty McFly playing Chuck Berry on the guitar. To them I can only quote Marty:

“I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.”

Sustainability and Climate Change (National Curriculum)

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Wednesday 27th October 2021 Westminster Hall

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Ghani. It is fantastic that my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Nadia Whittome) has secured the debate. Although she is a Gen Z-er and we are millennials, and our two generations disagree on many things, what unites us is our passion for the environment. Certainly, we millennials have been very inspired by Gen Z pushing forward this agenda.

In the House last week, I spoke about the Sheffield Hallam climate manifesto, which was a product of months of meetings with my constituents. We brought together campaigners, trade unionists, experts and people from across the constituency to outline measures to tackle the climate emergency and what the UK should ask for in the COP26 negotiations. In our discussions it was all too clear that, although some understood the importance and scale of the climate emergency, they were not sure about what action should be taken and felt powerlessness to effect the change they know we need.

That feeling of powerlessness reflects the remoteness of political institutions such as COP26 from people up and down the country who want more robust action on the climate emergency. It also reflects a gulf between the desire to do something and the knowledge of what to do. The same goes for young people: 2.5 million seven to 17-year-old Britons want increased teaching on the climate crisis in schools. The Institution of Engineering and Technology found recently that 68% of young people would like to work in green jobs, but 71% said that they lacked knowledge about those careers, which could stop them pursuing one.

That is a problem for our democracy but it is one that we can help to fix through our education system. The climate crisis is not going away, and if the purpose of our school system is, as a Labour Prime Minister once said,

“to equip children to the best of their ability for a lively, constructive place in society”,

it is right that we educate them about it through the national curriculum. I pay tribute to organisations like Hope for the Future, which works with schools in my constituency and beyond, for their vital work to engage young people and teach them about the climate emergency and democracy.

It is our responsibility to educate our young people about the collective challenges we face, but it should also be said that had it not been for young people we would be less aware of these issues. Often, young people have been the educators. From Greta Thunberg and the youth climate strikers to youth-led organisations such as Teach the Future, all provide excellent examples of the lively and constructive contribution that young people continue to make to the debate.

Given how young people have often led the discussion, it is appropriate not only to put the climate emergency on the national curriculum, but to ensure that it is part of lifelong learning curricula too. All too often, young people are leading the way while adults struggle to understand the full extent of the crisis and the opportunities offered by green jobs. A just transition to net zero that puts our communities, not a handful of elite decision makers, at the centre of our response means raising the general level of education about the climate emergency. Making it part of our national curriculum is fundamentally a democratic demand, which millions of young people are making. We should all listen to them.

Education Route Map: Covid-19

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Thursday 25th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

First, I thank the schools, teachers and school leaders for working tirelessly throughout the pandemic. A polite way to describe the Government’s approach to education throughout the covid-19 pandemic would be “headline grabbing”, from the exams debacle and discriminatory algorithms to the unclear guidance on public health measures in education settings, free school meals and January’s U-turn on the return to schools. Government planning during the covid crisis has felt a little kneejerk and reactive, and sometimes these reactions have been incredibly slow. Despite the new academic year starting in September, the exam scandal last summer, and a chorus of requests from teaching unions and educators, Ministers only today published their plans for using teacher-assessed grades. It does sometimes feel as though things are being made up as we go along. That is why this debate is so important—it allows us to have a clear road map for young people, parents and educators so that we all know the plan and no one is left behind.

I want to focus on one group that has at times been completely ignored during the public health crisis: children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and their families. This debate is about national education route maps for schools and colleges in response to the outbreak. Any route map must acknowledge the journey that many SEND families have already been on during this crisis and plot a way forward for them too.

Even before coronavirus, SEND provision was in crisis. Both the Education Committee and the Public Accounts Committee have provided damning assessments of the state of education for people with SEND. Now we are still awaiting the SEND review, which has again been delayed. Ministers have explained that the multiple delays have been caused by the public health crisis, but covid-19 gives more of a reason to publish this review, not less. I sit on the Public Accounts Committee, where I have heard care home witnesses say that people with learning disabilities were very much ignored at the start of the pandemic. We were discussing PPE provision, but I think it is a fair summary of how people are feeling, and the same can be said for education.

I have heard similar while chairing the all-party parliamentary group on SEND during our inquiry into provision during covid-19. SEND families have faced massive amounts of pressure throughout this public health crisis. Many have had difficulties getting online and significant problems accessing their equipment for home learning. We have also heard first-hand the experiences of young people taking assessments, from outperforming teachers’ best grades to not having the correct equipment in language listening exams. The announcement today on teacher-assessed grades is a step forward, but we need to ensure that SEND children—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Order. I am afraid the hon. Lady has exceeded her time.

Free School Meals: Summer Holidays

Olivia Blake Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

I would like to take a moment to remember Jo Cox, a fellow Yorkshirewoman. She was such an inspiration and stood up against inequality and the loneliness that often accompanies it.

I welcome the Government U-turn on free school meals over the summer. I pay tribute to Marcus Rashford for his leadership over the past few days. Perhaps Government Members could take some lessons from that.

Since the onset of the covid-19 crisis, 1.5 million people have reported going a whole day without food. The use of food banks has soared. Mutual aid groups, food banks and campaigners in my constituency have struggled to provide the food that the people of Sheffield need. Their work and the work of others is heartening, but it is also a travesty that in the sixth richest country in the world it falls to volunteers and the charity sector to ensure that no one is going hungry.

Over the past few years in Sheffield, we have seen a growth in activities for young people that now must involve the provision of food, whether they are holiday hunger projects or term-time clubs. Children are struggling to get the nutrition they need and rely on such projects, as well as free school meals. The demand is high and it is growing. Communities have identified the need, but it is clear that they do not have the resources to prevent hunger in their neighbourhoods. They cannot solve the structural issues of inequality, low pay, insufficient social security, and rising costs in housing, energy and the basics. Solving that requires action and intervention from this place.

The pandemic has not created this crisis, but it has shone a light on the weaknesses that already exist. According the Trussell Trust’s “State of Hunger” report, 8% to 10% of households in recent years have experienced food insecurity, leading to 1.5 million units of emergency food parcels—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order.