Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of mitigations for reinforced autoclave aerated concrete in schools.

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 a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.

The Department’s focus is on supporting schools and colleges to put in place suitable mitigations to minimise disruption to learning. Mitigation plans could include carrying out structural work so the space can continue to be used, or taking the space out of use, using other spaces on the school site, or in nearby schools or elsewhere in the local area, until structural supports or temporary buildings are installed. Mitigations depend on a number of factors including type of building, building use and the extent of RAAC in the space.

The supply of temporary buildings has been increased and the Department has been working with three contractors, to accelerate the installation of these. The Department also met key water and utility companies between 30 August and 5 September 2023 to ensure the easy connection to temporary services. The Department has secured significant capacity to meet current needs and can increase this if necessary. The Government will fund the 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, such as transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall or office, all reasonable requests will be approved.

The Department will work with responsible bodies, surveyors and technical advisors to establish a longer-term permanent resolution to the RAAC, and will fund the completion of that work, including rebuilding where necessary.

Stepney All Saints School was not one of the 52 schools with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete mitigations in place referenced in the oral contribution of Monday 4 September 2023. It was included in the list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC as of 14 September, as published on 19 September. An updated list was published on 19 October available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information. This contains a summary of the number of settings with confirmed RAAC and the status of education in place at these settings at the specified date.