Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by what means her Department assessed the extra costs incurred in maintaining and refurbishing the school stock because of the presence of asbestos in its Property Data Survey Programme.

The Property Data Survey (PDS) was a high-level, visual survey of the school estate. It did not take account of asbestos, which would only be apparent with an invasive survey. PDS has not been used to make an assessment of any costs associated with the presence of asbestos.