Business of the House

Sarah Edwards Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

My hon. Friend asks a very important question. She is absolutely right: bringing back neighbourhood policing is a key task for the Home Secretary. Part of our manifesto and of our “first steps” commitments to this country was that we would recruit an additional 13,000 neighbourhood police officers; steps towards that have already been taken. It is also a key plank of the crime and policing Bill, which was announced in the King’s Speech and will come before the House in due course.

[Sarah Edwards (Tamworth) (Lab)]

Greenacres school in my constituency is sinking. Five years ago, it applied to the risk protection arrangement scheme after concerns about drainage. It has been closed since March, and pupils and parents are rightly worried about the school’s future. May we have a statement about what the Government are doing to review whether such schemes are fit for purpose and whether the rest of our school buildings are at risk from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete and other conditions?

[Lucy Powell]

I am really sorry to hear that the school in my hon. Friend’s constituency is in such a state of disrepair. I am afraid it is a familiar story. Our schools estate is in a very poor state and is in need of serious investment, for which I am afraid sufficient funding is not available at the moment. I know that these matters are of concern to the Secretary of State for Education; my hon. Friend may wish to raise them at Education questions, which are coming up after the recess.