Evening summary
Here is a round-up of the day’s main headlines:
More schools could be told they need to immediately shut classrooms because they are fitted with a concrete that could suddenly collapse, the schools minister has admitted. Nick Gibb said on Friday that a collapse over the summer of a beam that had been considered safe sparked an urgent rethink on whether buildings with the aerated concrete could remain open. Though not confirmed, it is estimated that around 24 schools in England have been told to close entirely because of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the PA news agency understands.
The warning that school buildings made from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) could be unsafe or face closure was prompted by a beam collapse, Gibb said. He said a beam at a school, previously thought to be no risk, collapsed during the summer.
The government will cover “all capital costs” over any disruption to educational buildings caused by concerns from the use of concrete prone to collapse, Gibb added. Asked on Sky News who will pay if schools need to either fully or partially relocate, he said: “We will pay for that. We’ve made it very clear we will cover all capital costs. “So if in the worst-case scenario, we need Portacabins in the school estate for an alternative accommodation, we will cover all those costs. So there has been some speculation that we won’t cover those costs. We absolutely will.”
Labour has renewed calls for the government to publish a full list of schools affected by crumbling concrete and have called for an urgent investigation into which other public buildings – such as hospitals, courts and prisons – are affected. Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, said on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: “After 13 years of Conservative failure, the fabric of our public sector is literally crumbling.”
Scottish ministers are being urged to take the risk of school building collapse seriously amidst claims they have pushed responsibility for fixing potentially fatal problems onto already cash-strapped local councils. In June, the Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed through FOI work that RAAC was present in 37 schools across Scotland, and then in July the Scottish health secretary, Michael Matheson, confirmed that health boards had identified 254 buildings with likely RAAC.
All NHS trusts should have access to the necessary funding to replace concrete that has been deemed unsafe “as soon as possible”, a health chief has said. The government has committed to rebuilding seven hospitals most affected by RAAC by 2030, PA Media reports. The lightweight material was used in public buildings from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s, but is now assessed to be at risk of collapse.
Two schools in the north-east of England are among those unable to open for the new autumn term. Ferryhill chool in County Durham confirmed in an email that two of its buildings are affected by potentially dangerous RAAC and cannot open on Tuesday as planned, the Northern Echo reports.
Earlier, the schools minister, Nick Gibb, said the government had taken action on the issue of crumble-risk concrete in schools “as soon as the evidence emerged” (see 7.48am) that it might be a safety risk. However, Hansard shows shows that this very issue was debated in parliament back in June.
The Home Office has placed more than 100 lone asylum-seeker children in hotels in recent weeks, despite the practice having been found unlawful by the high court. The government’s continued use of hotels has been condemned by human rights and refugee organisations since more than 200 children have gone missing, including dozens who vanished from one hotel in Brighton.
The UK could pull out of the international energy charter treaty if attempts to reform it fail, the energy minister, Graham Stuart, has said. The energy charter treaty (ECT) is a system of secret courts that enables companies to sue governments over policies that would cut their future profits. Companies have sued over phasing out coal-fired power stations, ending offshore oil drilling and banning fracking, with some receiving large taxpayer-funded payouts.
The Liberal Democrats will try to force the Conservative party to hold the Mid Bedfordshire byelection at the start of October. With parliament scheduled to reconvene on Monday, concerns have arisen that the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, might postpone the byelection in Nadine Dorries’ former seat to avoid scheduling conflicts with the Conservative party conference.
The average number of people in each small boat crossing the Channel has hit a new monthly high, figures show, indicating the use of larger vessels. In August, 5,369 people crossed the Channel in 102 boats, which equates to an average of about 53 a vessel. Analysis of provisional government data by PA Media shows this is the highest monthly average since records began in 2018.
Theresa May has expressed regret for using the term “hostile environment” and has criticised Home Office staff for an “inbuilt cynicism” she believes contributed to the Windrush scandal. May devotes a chapter to the scandal, which unfolded while she was prime minister, in her forthcoming memoir, The Abuse of Power. She concludes that it was an abuse of power and describes the treatment of the Windrush generation who were wrongly classified as illegal immigrants as “shocking”.
Rishi Sunak’s top spin doctor in Downing Street has quit after less than a year in the job. Amber de Botton, who had a decade-long career as a broadcast journalist, was hired by the prime minister as his director of communications a few days after he entered Downing Street.
A former UK environment secretary is to take a consultancy role with a waste management firm that had to pay £36,000 after an Environment Agency (EA) investigation found contamination of groundwater at a site. George Eustice, who was the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs from February 2020 until September 2022, is joining Augean, a waste treatment company with sites across the UK.
The Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan, has criticised the appointment of the former transport secretary Grant Shapps as defence secretary. Shapps clashed with union leaders while in the transport brief and Whelan, standing at a picket line in Euston, north London, joked of the appointment: “I keep looking at the skies waiting for the missiles to rain down. He’s had five departments in 12 months, I’m not sure if that’s a ringing endorsement or an indictment.”
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the UK politics live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Updated
When Liz Truss addressed the nation from Downing Street in her first speech as prime minister, she promised “action this day, and action every day”. It was meant to be a Churchillian call to arms demonstrating her determination to solve the intractable issues facing Britain. Instead, it foreshadowed the most chaotic period in recent political history.
As the sole survivor through the cabinets of the three previous Conservative-led governments, Truss was used to putting pragmatism above principles. But that approach was cast aside when she swept in to No 10.
In her first week in office, an aide suggested she should “be like Blair” and avoid immediately rocking the boat. He was slapped down. Truss told him to stop talking – and the aide was said to have been cut out of further meetings.
Such single-mindedness quickly collided headlong with the realities of government. With an inexperienced team in No 10, and a divided party, the foundations of her administration were shaky from the start. Within 49 extraordinary days, it had fallen apart.
A former UK environment secretary is to take a consultancy role with a waste management firm that had to pay £36,000 after an Environment Agency (EA) investigation found contamination of groundwater at a site.
George Eustice, who was the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs from February 2020 until September 2022, is joining Augean, a waste treatment company with sites across the UK.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) gave Eustice permission to take the role as a strategic adviser, responsible for providing “strategic counsel […] on how to navigate existing permitting and regulatory regimes’ processes [and] offering wider advice on the environment, social and governance issues”. He is banned from lobbying the government or using his contacts in Whitehall on behalf of Augean until September 2024.
Eustice declined to answer questions on how much he would be paid for his role and what experience he would rely on in his work for Augean. He said if a financial interest did arise it would be declared through the parliamentary register.
In Acoba’s advice letter, neither Eustice nor the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made any mention of the investigation by the EA, an arms-length body of Defra.
The investigation resulted in Augean South, a subsidiary of Augean, paying £25,000 to an environmental charity in Northamptonshire, where the company’s site is located, as well as £11,058.90 to cover the costs of the EA inquiry.
Sunak's director of communications quits after less than year in role
Rishi Sunak’s top spin doctor in Downing Street has quit after less than a year in the job.
Amber de Botton, who had a decade-long career as a broadcast journalist, was hired by the prime minister as his director of communications a few days after he entered Downing Street.
Unlike an impartial civil servant, she was a special adviser able to give political advice to ministers, defend the government’s actions and criticise opposition parties, PA Media reports.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, de Botton said:
It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as the prime minister’s director of communications but I have decided it is the right time to move on.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the prime minister for his support and his leadership.
The team he has built around him is dedicated and focused because those are the qualities he inspires. I also want to thank my colleagues - No 10 is a demanding and high pressure place to work - yet the professionalism and talent they display every day is exceptional.
It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as the Prime Minister’s Director of Communications but I have decided it is the right time to move on. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Prime Minister for his support and his leadership. (1/2)
— Amber de Botton (@amberdebotton) September 1, 2023
She was deputy head of politics at Sky News for five years until 2017 and then worked at ITV News as head of politics and then as head of news.
The PA news agency understands she will be replaced by the PM’s press secretary Nerissa Chesterfield.
Monthly number of people per small boat crossing Channel hits new high
The average number of people in each small boat crossing the Channel has hit a new monthly high, figures show, indicating the use of larger vessels.
In August, 5,369 people crossed the Channel in 102 boats, which equates to an average of about 53 a vessel. Analysis of provisional government data by PA Media shows this is the highest monthly average since records began in 2018.
The averages for the past three months have each set a new record. The second-highest average of 52 was in July, when 3,299 people made the journey in 63 boats. The third-highest average of 49 was reached in June, when 78 boats carried 3,823 people.
This suggests bigger boats are being used for crossings with larger numbers of people onboard.
So far this year, 20,101 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel. No arrivals have been recorded for the past two days amid poor weather conditions at sea. This is about 20% lower than this time last year, when more than 25,000 people had crossed on small boats.
In the whole of August 2022, 8,574 people were detected making the journey, Home Office data shows.
Updated
All NHS trusts should have access to the necessary funding to replace concrete that has been deemed unsafe “as soon as possible”, a health chief has said.
The government has committed to rebuilding seven hospitals most affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) by 2030, PA Media reports.
The lightweight material was used in public buildings from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s, but is now assessed to be at risk of collapse.
Earlier this year, NHS Providers published a report calling for the “long-neglected” NHS estate in England to be brought “into the 21st century”.
It also described RAAC as presenting a “major and unjustifiable safety risk”.
The government said it “remains committed” to eradicating RAAC from the NHS estate by 2035.
Updated
Willowbrook Mead primary academy on the outskirts of Leicester was a hive of activity on Friday morning as staff moved tables, chairs and bookcases from brick buildings into a nearby portable building.
But the activity is not the usual hustle and bustle of a new academic year. Just two days into the new term, Willowbrook Mead has been forced to close its doors to students while safety works are carried out.
It is one of a number of schools that have had the beginning of term plunged into chaos after the government found more than 150 schools contain buildings made from potentially dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), which has been assessed as being at risk of collapse.
“It was a bit of a surprise, the kids have just gone back to school, and we just found out yesterday,” said Mohammad Younis, who has a 10-year-old daughter at the school.
“It is alarming if something like this is there in a lot of schools and it’s taken them this long to reach the conclusion that it can be dangerous. But I’m sure they are sorting it out so the kids can go back soon.”
The school, which has about 450 pupils and is run by the Mead Educational Trust, said it had been contacted by the Department for Education warning that part of its site contained RAAC.
Updated
The UK could pull out of the international energy charter treaty if attempts to reform it fail, the energy minister, Graham Stuart, has said.
The energy charter treaty (ECT) is a system of secret courts that enables companies to sue governments over policies that would cut their future profits. Companies have sued over phasing out coal-fired power stations, ending offshore oil drilling and banning fracking, with some receiving large taxpayer-funded payouts.
Critics of the ECT include the European Union, which says staying in the treaty would “clearly undermine” climate targets. France, Germany, Spain and eight other countries have already said they will leave and the EU is also set to pull out en masse. The UK and Japan are the only major economies not to have committed to exiting the ECT.
The UK has been a “strong advocate” of reforming the treaty but the intention to leave it by numerous countries has created an impasse. Stuart said that if the reforms were not passed by November, the UK would consider withdrawal.
“Rather than being stuck indefinitely with an outdated treaty, the UK wants to see an agreement on a modernised treaty as quickly as possible,” Stuart said. “In its current form, the ECT will not support those countries looking to make the transition to cleaner, cheaper energy sources and could even penalise our country for being at the forefront of those efforts.”
Cleodie Rickard, trade campaign manager at Global Justice Now said: “It is welcome to hear the UK is finally willing to review its membership of the climate-wrecking ECT. But putting off the decision until November looks like an attempt to keep the UK sitting on the fence.”
“The reform process to this treaty has failed,” she said. “Eleven countries are voting with their feet and exiting, meaning there is not enough support to get the so-called modernisation through. Rather than more dither and delay, the UK should be joining a co-ordinated withdrawal now to maximise the benefits of leaving this damaging deal.”
You can read the full report below.
Patrick Roach, the teachers’ union NASUWT’s general secretary, has called for an immediate survey of school buildings in Scotland.
He said: “We are calling on the Scottish government to urgently take steps to assess the safety of the schools estate.
“We need to be clear about which buildings may be affected by Raac and what plans are in place to ensure children’s education faces minimum disruption if their schools are found to be unsafe.”
Updated
Teachers are scrambling to find temporary accommodation in libraries, marquees and Portakabins after at least 156 schools in England were identified as having potentially dangerous aerated concrete, and engineers prepared for a weekend checking more schools at risk of sudden collapse.
With an estimated 24 schools already facing temporary closure and the government telling more than 100 to close at least some affected areas, the schools minister, Nick Gibb, said numbers were likely to increase.
One schools estates manager told the Guardian that the tally of those affected in some way could eventually rise as high as 1,000, and said the crisis could end up with children being taught in temporary buildings for as long as a decade to come.
You can read the full report here:
Updated
Scottish ministers urged to investigate building collapse-risk after claims responsibility pushed onto local councils
Scottish ministers are being urged to take the risk of school building collapse seriously amidst claims they have pushed responsibility for fixing potentially fatal problems onto already cash-strapped local councils.
In June, the Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed through FOI work that RAAC was present in 37 schools across Scotland, and then in July the Scottish health secretary Michael Matheson confirmed that health boards had identified 254 buildings with likely RAAC.
The Scottish government now says it is still trying to establish how many schools contain collapse-risk concrete and expects a fuller picture within days.
Housing minister Paul McLennan said that following initial assessments two schools in West Lothian and East Lothian had been identified and some classrooms had been closed off.
Over the summer, it emerged that two primary schools in Edinburgh were using portable classroom units following the discovery of RAAC, while Perth and Kinross Council and Moray Council announced work to remove RAAC panels from local schools. Scottish pupils have already returned to school as their term begins in mid-August.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Does Scotland have to have a tragedy before ministers take this seriously? This issue has been bubbling up for months and its ridiculous that the Scottish Government have failed to use the summer to rigorously assess the scale of the problem and get repairs underway”.
“The government need to name the schools which have this concrete in place and say what measures are being taken to make them safe. Ministers must set out how they will support cash-strapped schools, universities, hospitals and more to identify buildings at risk and cope with any necessary remedial works.”
Updated
PA reports that the local authority in Bradford revealed on Thursday that RAAC was detected in Crossflatts primary school and Eldwick primary school in the West Yorkshire city, making the buildings unsafe
Both interim and long-term alteration works are being carried out to ensure children can be accommodated on the two sites, according to Bradford Council.
The council said interim alterations to safe areas will be finished by Sunday and temporary classrooms on both school sites have been ordered and should arrive within the next eight-10 weeks at Crossflatts and 14-16 weeks at Eldwick.
Elsewhere, the BBC reports affected schools include Ferryhill School, a secondary in County Durham, Willowbrook Mead primary academy in Leicester and Corpus Christi Catholic primary school in Brixton, south London.
The possible presence of the concrete was being assessed in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, where education is devolved.
The Welsh government said councils and colleges have not reported any presence of Raac.
Updated
Priti Patel, the former home secretary and MP for Whitham who has five schools in her constituency disrupted by the location of RAAC including the closure of a primary, said ministers must explain why the decision to close schools was not taken earlier.
“Ministers need to explain why the decision to close schools was not taken sooner so schools and parents could plan and why provision had not been made sooner, which would have prevented the disruption to learning and teaching which we are now about to see.
“Since being made aware of the schools affected in my constituency, I have been working with Essex county council to support the schools affected and have been making robust representations to the Secretary of State for Education. The government must act quickly and effectively to address this problem, make our school buildings safe and respond to the questions and concerns that have been raised,” she told the Guardian.
Patel, who has been in contact with teachers at St Andrews Junior school in Hatfield Peverel who were told on Thursday tht their school would be closed, said:
“The safety of pupils, teachers and staff must always come first and I am extremely concerned about the presence of RAAC in school buildings in my constituency and the risks to safety. This is a very difficult and frustrating situation for the pupils, parents and schools affected and the decision to close some schools when the start of term is imminent will cause inconvenience to many. The Government must fully fund all works necessary to make these buildings safe and provide support to all pupils and schools directly affected by the disruption being caused.”
Updated
Afternoon summary
Here is a round-up of the day’s main headlines so far:
More schools could be told they need to immediately shut classrooms because they are fitted with a concrete that could suddenly collapse, the schools minister has admitted. Nick Gibb said on Friday that a collapse over the summer of a beam that had been considered safe sparked an urgent rethink on whether buildings with the aerated concrete could remain open. Though not confirmed, it is estimated that around 24 schools in England have been told to close entirely because of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the PA news agency understands.
The warning that school buildings made from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) could be unsafe or face closure was prompted by a beam collapse, the schools minister has said. Nick Gibb said a beam at a school, previously thought to be no risk, collapsed during the summer.
The government will cover “all capital costs” over any disruption to educational buildings caused by concerns from the use of concrete prone to collapse, the schools minister has said. Asked on Sky News who will pay if schools need to either fully or partially relocate, Nick Gibb said: “We will pay for that. We’ve made it very clear we will cover all capital costs. “So if in the worst-case scenario, we need Portacabins in the school estate for an alternative accommodation, we will cover all those costs. So there has been some speculation that we won’t cover those costs. We absolutely will.”
Labour have renewed calls for the government to publish a full list of schools affected by crumbling concrete and have called for an urgent investigation into which other public buildings – such as hospitals, courts and prisons – are affected. Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, said on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: “After 13 years of Conservative failure, the fabric of our public sector is literally crumbling.”
All NHS trusts should have access to the necessary funding to replace concrete that has been deemed unsafe “as soon as possible”, a health chief has said. The government has committed to rebuilding seven hospitals most affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) by 2030, PA Media reports. The lightweight material was used in public buildings from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s, but is now assessed to be at risk of collapse.
Two schools in the north-east of England are among those unable to open for the new autumn term. Ferryhill School in County Durham confirmed in an email that two of its buildings are affected by potentially dangerous Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) and cannot open on Tuesday as planned, the Northern Echo reports.
Earlier, the schools minister Nick Gibb said the government had taken action on the issue of crumble-risk concrete in schools “as soon as the evidence emerged” (see 7.48am) that it might be a safety risk. However, Hansard shows shows that this very issue was debated in parliament back in June.
The Home Office has placed more than 100 lone asylum-seeker children in hotels in recent weeks, despite the practice having been found unlawful by the high court. The government’s continued use of hotels has been condemned by human rights and refugee organisations since more than 200 children have gone missing, including dozens who vanished from one hotel in Brighton.
The Liberal Democrats will try to force the Conservative party to hold the Mid Bedfordshire by-election at the start of October. With parliament scheduled to reconvene on Monday, concerns have arisen that the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, might postpone the byelection in Nadine Dorries’ former seat to avoid scheduling conflicts with the Conservative party conference.
Theresa May has expressed regret for using the term “hostile environment” and has criticised Home Office staff for an “inbuilt cynicism” she believes contributed to the Windrush scandal. May devotes a chapter to the scandal, which unfolded while she was prime minister, in her forthcoming memoir, The Abuse of Power. She concludes that it was an abuse of power and describes the treatment of the Windrush generation who were wrongly classified as illegal immigrants as “shocking”.
The Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan, has criticised the appointment of former transport secretary Grant Shapps as defence secretary. Shapps clashed with union leaders while in the transport brief and Whelan, standing at a picket line in Euston, north London, joked of the appointment: “I keep looking at the skies waiting for the missiles to rain down. He’s had five departments in 12 months, I’m not sure if that’s a ringing endorsement or an indictment.”
Updated
All NHS trusts should have access to the necessary funding to replace concrete that has been deemed unsafe “as soon as possible”, a health chief has said.
The government has committed to rebuilding seven hospitals most affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) by 2030, PA Media reports.
The lightweight material was used in public buildings from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s, but is now assessed to be at risk of collapse.
Earlier this year, NHS Providers published a report calling for the “long-neglected” NHS estate in England to be brought “into the 21st century”.
It also described Raac as presenting a “major and unjustifiable safety risk”.
The government said it “remains committed” to eradicating Raac from the NHS estate by 2035.
The new energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, has followed a path well trodden by high-profile Tories, from Oxford University, via the City and the thinktanks of Westminster, to the cabinet table.
She takes over a department created only six months ago, which faces both the immediate challenge of overseeing the energy sector over another tough winter, and a slew of longer-term questions about the government’s net zero strategy.
Like many of the fresh batch of Conservative MPs catapulted into parliament after 2019’s “get Brexit done” election, Coutinho is staunchly behind Britain’s exit from the EU – she once said she wanted to be an MP so she could deliver Brexit “from the inside”.
She has also highlighted the environment as an issue she cares about – as a member of the Conservative Environment Network before joining government.
Updated
Home Office defies high court by placing 100 asylum-seeker children in hotels
The Home Office has placed more than 100 lone asylum-seeker children in hotels in recent weeks, despite the practice having been found unlawful by the high court.
The government’s continued use of hotels has been condemned by human rights and refugee organisations since more than 200 children have gone missing, including dozens who vanished from one hotel in Brighton.
One of the reasons children continue to be placed in hotels, some for a number of weeks, is that Kent county council says it cannot cope with the number of children arriving. The council’s geographical location means it has responsibility to take into care lone children who arrive at the Kent coast in small boats. It has warned that they are struggling to meet their legal obligations to UK as well as asylum-seeker children.
The Home Office and Kent county council have both been found by the high court to have acted unlawfully by failing to look after these children properly.
A high court case calling for this group of children to be protected is in progress, with the next hearing scheduled for 15 September. The court ruled in an earlier hearing that the Home Office’s routine use of accommodating children in hotels was unlawful. In another last week, it made an order declaring that Kent county council had acted unlawfully in its approach to the children.
Updated
Michael Gove vowed that Brexit would “strengthen environmental protections” in the UK back in 2017 when trying to reassure remainers that leaving the EU did not mean leaving its standards behind.
But this week, the first proper ripping-up of an EU environmental rule was proposed by Gove himself, who has transitioned from proclaiming the virtues of a “green Brexit” to referring to the very rules he promised to protect as “defective”.
By telling local authorities in England to ignore the extra sewage pollution created by new developments in sensitive areas such as the Lake District and Norfolk Broads, an amendment proposed by the government essentially nullifies the EU’s habitats directive, which the UK had carried over. This directive is to protect the rarest species and wildlife areas in Europe from being destroyed by pollution or development, and is one of the strongest EU environmental regulations.
While this is the first time the government has attempted to use a change in the law to scrap an EU-derived protection, the country has quietly been diverging from European standards for some time.
More schools could be told to shut classrooms, says schools minister
More schools could be told they need to immediately shut classrooms because they are fitted with a concrete that could suddenly collapse, the schools minister has admitted.
Nick Gibb said on Friday that a collapse over the summer of a beam that had been considered safe sparked an urgent rethink on whether buildings with the aerated concrete could remain open.
Though not confirmed, it is estimated that around 24 schools in England have been told to close entirely because of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the PA news agency understands.
The Department for Education (DfE) sought to dampen some of the anger by altering guidance to confirm that the cost of temporary and emergency accommodation will in fact be covered by the government.
Some 104 schools and colleges have been told by the DfE to partially or fully close buildings just as pupils prepare to return after the summer holidays.
But Gibb conceded that more schools could be told to make closures as evidence-gathering continues over the presence of the concrete.
“There may be more after that as these questionnaires continue to be surveyed and we continue to do more surveying work,” he told GB News.
But Gibb insisted pupils and parents should not be apprehensive about the risk during the wait for the results. “No, they shouldn’t worry,” he said.
“That’s a very cautious approach, so parents can be confident that if they’ve not been contacted by their school it is safe to send children back into school.”
Officials believe that only a “small number” of further schools will be told to make closures in the coming weeks once the surveyors complete their inspections.
School building safety warning 'prompted by beam collapse'
The warning that school buildings made from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) could be unsafe or face closure was prompted by a beam collapse, the schools minister has said.
Nick Gibb said a beam at a school, previously thought to be no risk, collapsed during the summer.
He told the BBC:
What we discovered over the summer was a number of instances, in schools and in non-schools, in England and outside England, where RAAC that had been considered to be a low risk actually turned out to be unsafe.
So over the summer – given this evidence – we had to take a decision. And some of that evidence, by the way, was as late as last week. We had to then decide what to do given the previous advice.
A beam that had no sign ... that it was a critical risk and was thought to be safe, collapsed.
He added that buildings at more than 50 schools in England were at risk of sudden collapse due to dangerous concrete.
Updated
Two schools in the north-east of England are among those unable to open for the new autumn term.
Ferryhill School in County Durham confirmed in an email that two of its buildings are affected by potentially dangerous Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) and cannot open on Tuesday as planned, the Northern Echo reports.
In the email, the school said:
We have undertaken inspection work throughout the summer, and earlier this week the surveying and engineering team confirmed that there are issues in our two main blocks.
Unfortunately, as a result of this, we are unable to open the building to Ferryhill students on Tuesday September 5, and have no choice but to delay the start of the new school year.
The school said it plans to welcome new Year 7 starters the following week on Monday September 11 in unaffected parts of the school but other students will be forced to return to online lessons.
A school in the Jarrow constituency was only told yesterday that its buildings were unsafe, according to the local MP Kate Osborne.
“As of yesterday afternoon the school in my constituency didn’t know if they could open on Monday or not - when I asked the DfE if they could confirm they said they didn’t know that specific information. However. it seems from my call with the minister this morning and emails from the DfE (1 September) the school will not open for staff on Monday or for students on Tuesday,” she said, not naming the school.
She added:
The minister informed me today that all schools impacted now have a dedicated Caseworker and they will receive help from today, this is of course welcome but it really should have been in place across the summer. Informing them today leaves less than one working day for the headteacher to make arrangements and inform staff and parents.
The Liberal Democrats will try to force the Conservative party to hold the Mid Bedfordshire by-election at the start of October.
With parliament scheduled to reconvene on Monday, concerns have arisen that the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, might postpone the byelection in Nadine Dorries’ former seat to avoid scheduling conflicts with the Conservative party conference.
Arguing the people of Mid Bedfordshire deserve to have their voices heard in parliament without unnecessary delays, the Lib Dems plan to table a motion as soon as the Commons return, PA Media reports.
This would potentially lead to a byelection in Mid Bedfordshire on 5 October.
The Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said:
People in Mid Bedfordshire have been denied a voice in Parliament for far too long, all because Nadine Dorries abandoned them and Rishi Sunak refused to do anything about it. They should not be made to wait a day longer to elect an MP who will finally stand up for them.
It would add insult to injury if Rishi Sunak now decides to delay this by-election for his own political reasons.
If the Conservatives refuse to call this by-election as soon as Parliament returns, the Liberal Democrats will step in and force them to.
We will fight to give the people of Mid Bedfordshire the strong voice they deserve on access to GPs, the cost of living and tackling crime.
Under conventional parliamentary norms, it is the chief whip of the party whose member of parliament has resigned who typically moves the writ for a byelection.
However, parliamentary rules allow members from other parties to propose such motions. The Conservatives hold a parliamentary majority, which gives them the power to potentially oppose any motion.
Updated
Theresa May has expressed regret for using the term “hostile environment” and has criticised Home Office staff for an “inbuilt cynicism” she believes contributed to the Windrush scandal.
May devotes a chapter to the scandal, which unfolded while she was prime minister, in her forthcoming memoir, The Abuse of Power. She concludes that it was an abuse of power and describes the treatment of the Windrush generation who were wrongly classified as illegal immigrants as “shocking”.
The Conservative MP says she is “profoundly sorry”, but in her 14-page analysis of what caused this abuse of power she seeks to spread responsibility, attributing the problem to the failures of “successive governments”.
May blames Clement Attlee, the Labour prime minister between 1945 and 1951, for failing to give Windrush arrivals paperwork to show their right to be in the UK, and notes that Labour politicians created the concept of the hostile environment in the decade before she became home secretary in 2010.
“Much has been made of the use of the term ‘hostile environment’ when I was home secretary,” May writes. “In retrospect, it was not a good term to use.
“It was suggested at a time when it was clear that it related to people were here illegally, but of course it became a term that was used in relation to a generation who had every right to be here.”
The Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan, has criticised the appointment of former transport secretary Grant Shapps as defence secretary.
Shapps clashed with union leaders while in the transport brief and Whelan, standing at a picket line in Euston, north London, joked of the appointment:
I keep looking at the skies waiting for the missiles to rain down.
He added of Shapps:
He’s had five departments in 12 months, I’m not sure if that’s a ringing endorsement or an indictment.
I’m not sure he’s the right person for the job but then again I don’t believe anybody in power at this moment in time is doing a good job for this country.
His comments came as unions urged one “final push” to save railway ticket offices from closure before the public consultation ends on Friday, when train drivers strike again.
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Earlier, the schools minister Nick Gibb said the government had taken action on the issue of crumble-risk concrete in schools “as soon as the evidence emerged” (see 7.48am) that it might be a safety risk.
However, Hansard shows shows that this very issue was debated in parliament back in June.
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We want to speak to school leaders and staff at affected schools or colleges in England. Does your building contain aerated concrete? What are you planning to do?
What communications have you received? How will this affect you?
We’d also like to hear from parents who have children at affected schools.
If you’d like to get in touch, you can do so here:
Government to cover 'all costs' if schools need to relocate, minister confirm
The government will cover “all capital costs” over any disruption to educational buildings caused by concerns from the use of concrete prone to collapse, the schools minister has said.
Asked on Sky News who will pay if schools need to either fully or partially relocate, Nick Gibb said: “We will pay for that. We’ve made it very clear we will cover all capital costs.
“So if in the worst-case scenario, we need portacabins in the school estate for an alternative accommodation, we will cover all those costs. So there has been some speculation that we won’t cover those costs. We absolutely will.”
Asked whether all schools affected have now been informed, Gibb said: “The vast majority have. We have been calling them yesterday, but there are a few more that we’re calling today, and those schools are now talking to parents about what’s going to happen in their school.”
Gibb also said the government will release a list of the schools in “due course”.
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Labour have renewed calls for the government to publish a full list of schools affected by crumbling concrete and have called for an urgent investigation into which other public buildings – such as hospitals, courts and prisons – are affected.
Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, said on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: “After 13 years of Conservative failure, the fabric of our public sector is literally crumbling.”
He also criticised the timing of the announcement, just as parents and children were preparing for the start of the autumn term. “Imagine the fury of parents up and down the country today finding out that just days before the start of school term their school is going to be closed,” he said. “They could have taken action at the beginning of the school holidays to start to get this preparation in place”.
Hospitals have also been affected by issues related to crumbling concrete. In 2021 NHS England hospitals sounded the alarm over materials used in roofs that reached the end of their lifespan more than a decade ago, with one hospital forced to restrict the use of some operating theatres to lighter patients.
In 2022, NHS bosses admitted that dangerous roofs at risk of collapse would not be fixed until 2035. But it was only in June that ministers launched a government-wide inquiry into the use of crumbling concrete in public buildings after first turning government attention to the use of the concrete in schools in 2018, after the roof of a primary school in Kent collapsed.
“Right across the public sector, we are surveying the estate,” schools minister Nick Gibb told BBC Breakfast. “You’ve heard of a court closing at Harrow. We are taking action, of course, in the hospital sector as well.
“Hospitals are very large buildings and they have teams of very expert maintenance people monitoring the building the whole time.
“They use propping where they identify RAAC and also we are rebuilding seven hospitals because of extensive RAAC in those hospitals.”
Parents can be assured it is safe to send children back to school because the vast majority of questionnaires on the structural soundness of buildings say “there is no RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete)“, the schools minister has told Times Radio.
Nick Gibb said: “Parents can be assured that if they haven’t heard from schools, that it is safe to send their children into school.”
Asked how he can give assurances when not all questionnaires have been returned, Mr Gibb said: “Yes I can, because more than any other governments in the world, we have been the most proactive in dealing with this issue. It’s been around since the mid-1990s over successive governments.
“But as evidence has emerged, we have taken a very proactive approach in trying to identify in the 22,500 schools - and indeed across the public sector as a whole - where RAAC is.
“And those questionnaires when they come back, the vast majority of them say that there is no RAAC in the schools and we’ve only been surveying schools in the period that they have been built or extended between the 1950s and the 1990s.”
Schools minister defends timing of decision to close buildings on eve of return to class
Nick Gibb has defended the timing of the decision to close buildings at risk of collapse due to crumbling concrete. With the school term due to begin on Monday, the announcement was made on Thursday, giving schools just one working day to prepare for significant disruption.
“We took the decision as soon as the evidence emerged,” said Gibb. “We were proactively seeking that evidence, unlike any other governments around the world.
“We take this issue very seriously and as that evidence emerged, we discussed it with experts. We worked out what the consequences would be for schools.
“This happened in the summer. It could have happened in the coming November. It could have happened during term time. It just so happened that it happened over this summer.”
However, Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the NEU, said it was “a sign of gross government incompetence that a few days before the start of term, schools are finding out that some or all of their buildings are unsafe and cannot be used”.
Unison, which represents more than 200,000 non-academic school staff, said the situation was “nothing short of a scandal”. Its head of education, Mike Short, said: “The DfE and government have squandered valuable months hiding this crisis when they should have been fixing dangerous school buildings.”
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More schools in England face closure due to crumbling concrete, says schools minister
More schools could be impacted by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the schools minister has said.
Nick Gibb told GB News: “We are putting large amounts of capital into the school estate to improve the condition and, by the way, RAAC applies only in the period (between) the 1950s and the 1990s, so schools built or extended before that period or afterwards - which is about half the school estate - will not even need to consider whether they have RAAC.
“The issue is any extensions or schools built in that period, and that’s where we’ve been focusing our surveys and evidence-gathering since 2022, so we know where RAAC is in the school estate.
“It’s in 156 schools. There may be more after that as these questionnaires continue to be surveyed and we continue to do more surveying work.”
Asked if parents should worry during the wait for more survey results, Mr Gibb said: “No, they shouldn’t worry. Parents will be informed by the school. We were speaking to schools yesterday, some more today, and then schools are telling parents what action they are taking.”
He added: “We now are taking a cautious approach. It is a very cautious approach based on a number of cases that emerged over the summer.
“We are now saying that we think those buildings or rooms should be taken out of use. That’s a very cautious approach, so parents can be confident that if they’ve not been contacted by their school it is safe to send children back into school.”
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What is RAAC and why is it forcing schools to shut buildings?
RAAC is a lightweight, bubbly form of concrete that is usually found in roofs and occasionally in walls and floors. It looks like standard concrete but compared with the “traditional” reinforced material, which is typically denser, RAAC is weak and less durable. The material was favoured in construction projects because of its lightweight thermal properties.
Experts say the building material is less durable than reinforced concrete and deteriorates over time, so is susceptible to sudden failure. It has a life expectancy of little more than 30 years and this means buildings constructed from the 1950s to the 1990s that have not been checked by structural engineers are at risk of collapse.
The schools minister Nick Gibb has said fresh evidence came to light regarding the structural integrity of buildings in the UK, extending beyond schools.
“The decision is being taken now because over the summer, evidence has emerged about buildings in this country and in other countries - not just schools - where reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) that was considered to be non-critical, actually turned out to fail.
“So we took a very strict decision over the summer, we liaised with experts, and we took a cautious approach to make sure, because safety of children and staff in our schools is of the utmost importance.
“So we took the decision that the previous policy, which was to take buildings out of use if the RAAC was considered to be in a critical state, we changed that policy yesterday so that any RAAC identified in schools, now those buildings will be taken out of use.
“And we are supporting the 156 schools where this is a situation to find alternative accommodation for students.”
He added: “I know parents and children will be frustrated by this but our paramount concern is the safety of children and staff in those schools.”
Ministers under pressure to name schools with buildings at risk of collapse due to crumbling concrete
Ministers have been urged to “come clean” about the scale of the problems facing England’s school buildings as thousands of pupils faced a disrupted start to term.
More than 100 schools and colleges were told to partially or fully close buildings as children prepared to return to classes after the summer holidays because of fears over concrete which could suddenly collapse.
The Department for Education said a minority of the state facilities may have to move completely and some children may be forced back into pandemic-style remote learning.
But the government has not publicly revealed the 104 education facilities which have been told to shut buildings, and critics warned the problems with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) could be far wider.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told broadcasters: “Most parents should not be worried about this at all.”
But shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “We haven’t seen the full list of schools affected. We don’t know where they are, ministers should come clean with parents and set out the full scale of the challenge that we’re facing.
“I expect ministers next week in the House of Commons to publish that data and tell parents and tell the public exactly where the problems are.”
Official guidance was issued to schools, school nurseries and colleges - which have been told they will have to fund their own emergency accommodation.
The DfE said it contacted the 104 more schools in the wake of analysis of new cases after 52 of the 156 educational settings containing the concrete took protective steps so far this year.
The department said a “minority” will need to “either fully or partially relocate” to alternative accommodation while safety measures are installed. But its guidance to schools said funding will only be provided for works that are “capital funded” and schools will have to pay for rental costs for emergency or temporary accommodation.
Space in nearby schools, community centres or in an “empty local office building” was recommended for the “first few weeks” while buildings are secured with structural supports.
Schools were told moving to pandemic-style remote education should only be considered as a “last resort and for a short period”.
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