Labour condemned Conservative Education Ministers for “shrugging
their shoulders” after ignoring more than 180 warnings about
crumbling buildings made by Shadow Education Secretary Bridget
Phillipson in Parliament since July 2022.
The news comes as the Prime Minister left open the possibility
that more than a thousand schools could still be impacted by
concerns over reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Labour’s interventions about building safety stretch back as far
as summer last year, with Shadow Education Secretary Bridget
Phillipson raising the issue of dangerous RAAC as early as
January 2023.
Labour plans to force a vote in the House of Commons to reveal
what Conservative Ministers knew about the dangers of RAAC in
school buildings and the names of schools which have had to close
partially or fully due to the presence of the dangerous
concrete.
, Labour’s Shadow
Education Secretary, said:
“Time and again Labour warned about the risks posed by crumbling
school buildings but Tory Ministers just shrugged their
shoulders.
“The first act of the Conservative government in 2010 was to axe
Labour’s schools rebuilding programme, then as Chancellor doubled down,
further cutting the budgets by nearly half – and now the chickens
have come home to roost.
“Parents deserve to know where these schools are, what Ministers
knew about this dangerous concrete and what they plan to do to
minimise yet more disruption to children’s education.
Ends
Notes
- Labour’s 180 warnings that went unheeded by the Conservatives
can be found attached.
