Classroom asbestos warning as ministers in the dark over risk at 1,000 schools
Education chiefs do not know the risk posed by asbestos in almost 1,000 schools, MPs have warned.
The Public Accounts Committee found 700,000 pupils are learning in schools that need major rebuilding or refurbishment. It warned that the deterioration of school buildings is leading to a worrying impact on children’s learning, which is affecting their grades.
In a report it said it is “extremely concerned” that the Department for Education does not have a good enough understanding of the risks in school buildings to keep pupils and teachers safe. The Commons committee said the Government had been unable to say how many surveys to identify RAAC, the concrete at risk of crumbling, were outstanding or how many temporary classrooms had been provided to affected schools.
The MPs also demanded that officials get a full picture of the problem of asbestos in schools nationwide. It still does not have responses to the asbestos management survey it launch in 2018 from 4% of schools, which is almost 1,000. Around 11 teachers or ex-teachers have died from asbestos-related conditions each year since 2011, according to data from the Health and Safety Executive.
Dame Meg Hillier, the chair of the committee, said: “A significant proportion of children in this country are learning in dilapidated or unsafe buildings. This is clearly beyond unacceptable.”
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The Labour MP added: “The images of classroom ceilings collapsed onto empty school desks released in recent months are not just searing indictments of a deteriorating school estate. They are chilling reminders of absolute catastrophe averted through sheer luck. Given the poor condition of so many of these buildings, the Government’s prime challenge now is to keep the safety of children and staff absolutely paramount.”
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