Schools: Asbestos

(asked on 29th January 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with local authorities to expedite the removal of asbestos from schools.


Answered by
Stephen Morgan Portrait
Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This question was answered on 12th February 2025

The department takes the safety of children and those who work with them incredibly seriously, which is why we expect all those with responsibility for managing the school estate, which includes local authorities, governing bodies and academy trusts, to have robust plans in place to manage asbestos in school buildings effectively, in line with their legal duties, drawing on appropriate professional advice.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as the regulator, sets the legal requirements and standards to manage asbestos and produces guidance for responsible bodies to follow, as duty holders. The department provides guidance, tools and support to help schools and responsible bodies effectively manage their school buildings, including guidance on managing asbestos in schools and colleges, which was updated in October 2024.

Asbestos is typically removed when carrying out wider rebuilding or refurbishment work to improve the condition of buildings. The department follows the advice of the HSE as the regulator, that as long as asbestos-containing materials are undamaged, and not in locations where they are vulnerable to damage, they should be left undisturbed, and their condition monitored.

The department has been clear that when asbestos does pose a risk to safety and cannot be effectively managed in place, it should be removed. The decision to remove asbestos should be considered on a case-by-case basis and annual condition funding provided by the department can be used for this purpose. As part of the 2025/26 budget, we have increased capital allocations to improve the condition of school buildings to £2.1 billion, which is £300 million more than the 2024/25 financial year. This is on top of the School Rebuilding Programme and targeted support for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

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