Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her oral statement of 4 September 2023 on Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in education settings, Official Report column 56, when she first asked officials to draw up plans to source (a) portacabins and (b) alternative sites for schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. We have acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue. 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 the Department if there is a concern with a building.

As part of their responsibilities to keep buildings safe, responsible bodies may commission surveys on issues they have concerns about. 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. The Department is 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 the Department has a response for all target schools.

There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England, and the vast majority are unaffected.

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 teaching. While some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to teaching 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 pupils and children of key workers.

Where schools need to vacate buildings due to RAAC, they use a range of different types of accommodation including accommodation on and off-site. On site accommodation can include semi rigid structures and temporary classrooms. Where temporary units and structures are required as a result of buildings having been vacated due to the confirmed presence of RAAC, the Department has increased the supply of these, working with three contractors to accelerate the installation of temporary units in particular. The Department has not, therefore, produced central estimates of the number of temporary classrooms required, however, we can confirm that we have secured significant capacity to meet current needs, and can increase this if necessary. Our focus is on working closely with individual settings to make sure they have workable plans for their individual circumstances and context. Based on the experience where RAAC assessed as critical was found, the Department expects the vast majority will be able to continue to provide face to face teaching without any disruption.

Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. The Government published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September and committed to providing further updates. The published list is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.