RAAC concrete: Rishi Sunak helps Gillian Keegan’s dealing with of disaster regardless of criticism from Whitehall

Rishi Sunak has backed Gillian Keegan’s dealing with of the colleges concrete disaster after she was accused of opening up a “Pandora’s box” by taking unilateral choices on the difficulty.

The prime minister stated the Department for Education (DfE) had acted “exactly correctly” upon studying that greater than 100 faculties have been affected by the presence of collapse-prone strengthened autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

In complete 147 faculties have been recognized as containing RAAC after the authorities responded to calls for from the Opposition to publish the complete listing.

The begin of time period has been delayed at 19 faculties – accountable for 11,150 pupils – whereas 4 faculties with a complete of two,938 pupils have additionally needed to return to distant studying, with the remainder having to resort to a mixture of distant studying and face-to-face tuition.

Speaking to reporters whereas on a visit to the G20 summit in Delhi, Mr Sunak stated the motion taken by the federal government “will ensure the safety of children and these buildings”.

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“We’re providing lots of support to schools so that we can mitigate these things as quickly as possible, minimise the disruption of children’s education,” he stated.

“But the professional advice from the independent bodies on RAAC remains as it is. Departments individually will follow that advice as it relates to their particular estate.”

Mr Sunak’s defence comes after Sky News revealed that Ms Keegan had come underneath fireplace from colleagues for her “unilateral” resolution to find out which faculty buildings wanted to shut following RAAC issues.

Ministers in Whitehall concern she has opened a “Pandora’s box” by setting a extra cautious than crucial customary that might have an effect on an enormous array of public buildings, together with housing inventory, native authority buildings and the navy property.

The schooling secretary has made clear she took probably the most cautious of the choices introduced by officers over which buildings to close final week.

Sky News understands that the choice was signed off by the schooling crew in Number 10 with the prime minister’s data.

However, there was no Cabinet Office assembly and no ministerial follow-up for days after the difficulty emerged. The Department for Education “belatedly” shared the technical recommendation on why they shut faculties with others in Whitehall – a few of whom disagree it reveals a must shut faculties.

Sky News understands she “informed” the related Whitehall committees, which have been coping with the difficulty of crumbling concrete for years. However, she didn’t absolutely seek the advice of or safe an settlement for her transfer.

“This is suboptimal,” stated a senior Whitehall determine. “She has made a unilateral decision. It’s not been resolved, and it’s a bit of a mess.”

The unravelling of the RAAC disaster coincided with parliament getting back from the summer time recess – making a recent headache for Mr Sunak.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer stated cowboys have been “running the country” as he criticised the Tories over the disaster unfolding in England’s faculties.

The Labour chief stated faculty closures on account of unsafe concrete have been an “inevitable result of 13 years of cutting corners and sticking plaster politics”.

The authorities has confronted criticism for trying to shift the blame after Ms Keegan bemoaned that she had not been thanked for doing a “f*****g good job” whereas different individuals had been “sat on their arses” in a sweary outburst that she later apologised for.

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She later advised faculty leaders to “get off their backsides” and fill out a survey informing ministers of whether or not their buildings contained RAAC.

Elsewhere, Mr Sunak addressed fears about hospitals that had been constructed with RAAC, saying the NHS had been wanting on the situation “for years” and had a £700m mitigation programme in place.

“We’ve already moved seven hospitals that are particularly affected into the new hospital programme,” he stated.

“They will be all sorted by 2030. Each department will have its own particular way of dealing with it and following the technical guidance that is there.

“The chancellor has been very clear that we are going to present the funding for faculties for these mitigations.”