Schools won’t have to pay to fix crumbling concrete, minister says

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has told Sky News that schools affected by collapse-risk concrete will not have to pay for repairs out of their budgets. 

Keegan said there will be no new money to fix the problem, but the costs will be covered by the Department for Education (DfE).

More than 100 schools in England have been told to close or partially close due to the risk of the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and the collapsing of school buildings. 

There has been a row over who will pick up the bill for the repairs. 

Labour has accused the government of being in “complete chaos” over the issue and accused the PM of putting lives at risk by cutting funding for school refurbishments when he was chancellor. 

Keegan said ministers had already procured stock of portable cabins for schools that need temporary accommodation – and the DfE is paying for this “directly.” 

She said: “We have eight structural surveying firms who go in and do the surveys.

“We have three portacabin providers, so we’ve laid up a stock of portacabins so that people can be prepared quickly to be able to do that if they need temporary accommodation. And we’ve also looked at a propping company that’s nationwide.

“The Department for Education will pay for all of that.”