The Government have released their latest “fortnightly” RAAC
update more than two weeks late. This shows that the number of
schools with confirmed RAAC has risen to 214 schools [1].
Essex is by far and away the worst hit local authority with 63
schools with confirmed RAAC. The worst hit constituencies are:
Harwich and North Essex, Saffron Walden, Witham, Clacton, and
South Basildon and East Thurrock.
The Secretary of State has still not answered the six important
questions the NEU and other unions asked at the beginning of
September [2]:
- How many schools at risk of RAAC
have not had an investigation?
- How many schools suspect they could
have RAAC?
- How many schools with suspected
RAAC have yet to be surveyed?
- How long does the Government expect
it to take for all at-risk schools to be investigated?
- How long does the Government think
it will take for all schools with suspected RAAC to be
surveyed?
- What deadline has been set to clear
RAAC from every school?
Commenting, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the
National Education Union, said:
“The number of schools with RAAC continues to rise, and we are
nowhere near the conclusion of this saga. Parents and the wider
public need reassurance that the Department for Education have
this problem under control. Their reluctance to publish on time
speaks volumes, demonstrating that there is a failure at the
heart of Government to take seriously the various crises facing
education. It should not have to fall to the NEU to chase the DfE
for information they pledged to regularly provide. We are also
deeply concerned that the urgent questions we asked at the
beginning of September have still not been answered.”
- Reinforced autoclaved aerated
concrete (RAAC): management informationhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information
- Six unions ask urgent questions of
about RAAC-affected
schools
https://neu.org.uk/latest/press-releases/six-unions-ask-urgent-questions-gillian-keegan-about-raac-affected-schools
