Tories sat on £790m budget for school repairs as concrete crisis loomed

05 September 2023 , 21:30

1006 0

Damage inside Parks Primary School in Leicester which has been affected by the dodgy concrete crisis (Image: PA)

Tory ministers sat on hundreds of millions of pounds that could have been used to fix crumbling schools, we can reveal.

The Government failed to spend £790million earmarked for rebuilding or repairing schools over the past two years. The Department for Education’s annual report shows a £321m underspend in the year to March and £469m over the previous 12 months. Meanwhile, the reliability of dodgy concrete in dozens of schools was dwindling.

Thousands of children have been shut out of classrooms as experts race to assess buildings and replace RAAC in affected schools. The DfE report says the underspend was “primarily due to slippage of school and college building programmes driven by challenging issues in the construction market”.

Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Not only did Rishi Sunak slash school rebuilding budgets, his Government underspent on rebuilding schools because construction projects ground to a halt. The Prime Minister is directly responsible for the crisis that has struck schools this week, the chaos that families have faced at the start of term and the disruption to children’s learning. He needs to come clean about what he knew about this dangerous concrete, take responsibility and get a grip of this mess.”

Labour will tomorrow try to force the Government to reveal who knew what when about the scandal caused by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. Mr Sunak is expected to come under further pressure to publish a list of schools affected when he appears at Prime Minister’s Questions at noon.

Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade

The Government has so far kept the list secret, despite repeated promises to publish it “this week”. Schools Minister Nick Gibb today admitted Mr Sunak rejected a bid to rebuild 200 schools a year as Chancellor - after the PM claimed it was "utterly wrong" to blame him for the deepening crisis.

Mr Gibb confirmed that in 2021 DfE asked for cash to refurbish 150 more schools than it had been renovating. But the Treasury - then led by Mr Sunak - rejected the plea. “We put in a bid for 200 but what Rishi agreed to was to continue the rebuilding programme at 50 a year, consistent with what we’ve been doing since we came into office,” he said. “Fifty school buildings a year is what the system can cope with and of course we put in a bid for 200, but the Treasury then has to compare that bid with all the other priorities right across Whitehall.”

Britain’s top spending watchdog accused the Tories of a “sticking plaster approach” to the classroom concrete crisis. National Audit Office chief Gareth Davies said ministers would end up spending more because they did not tackle the issue earlier.

“The underlying challenge is that adequately funding responsible capital programmes for our public services leaves less for higher profile projects,” Mr Davies wrote in The Times. “Failure to bite this bullet leads to poor value, with more money required for emergency measures or a sticking plaster approach.”

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan heaped blame on school chiefs who are yet to return questionnaires about whether RAAC is in their schools. “There's 5% of schools and responsible bodies that have not responded to the survey. Now, hopefully, all this publicity will make them get off their backsides,” she fumed on a radio phone-in. "But what I would like them to do is to respond because I want to be the Secretary of State that knows exactly in every school where there's RAAC and takes action."

Mr Gibb added: “I am frustrated that since March last year we've asked every responsible body - local authorities, trusts, dioceses - to respond to our questionnaire. Now, 95% of them responded, they've responded rapidly and action has been taken on the basis of those questionnaires. But there's still five per cent remaining.”

The accusation triggered fury among education unions. NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said: "Any attempt to start shifting the blame onto individual schools will be seen by parents and public for what it is - a desperate attempt by government to deflect from its own significant failings. The facts are clear - the current crumbling school estate is the direct result of ministerial decisions to slash capital budgets.

"Furthermore, the Government has known about the risks associated with RAAC for many years but has only recently sent out these surveys to responsible bodies. We now have clear evidence that despite all the warnings, the Government was not willing to pay for the rebuilding projects that were so desperately needed.”

The Cabinet discussed the crisis as ministers met for the first time since the summer recess. Mr Sunak’s spokesman said the PM “said it was right to prioritise safety and take a proactive approach, while doing everything possible to minimise disruption in the small proportion of schools which are affected”.

* Follow Mirror Politics onSnapchat,Tiktok,TwitterandFacebook