Afternoon summary
More than half of English schools that are so dilapidated they are at risk of partial closure were refused money under the government’s school rebuilding scheme, Department for Education (DfE) statistics show.
The head of the National Audit Office, Gareth Davies, has accused the government of adopting a “sticking-plaster approach” to school building safety, when it should be investing properly in infrastructure. (See 9.32am.)
Michael Gove has loosened restrictions on building onshore windfarms in England, meaning developments will no longer be quashed by one objection, but campaigners have said such schemes are still at a disadvantage. Responding to the announcement, Greenpeace said the impact would be marginal. Its UK policy director, Doug Parr, said:
These feeble tweaks are just more hot air from the government that’ll result in very little wind.
Developers will continue to face uncertainty over planning process and be beholden to quixotic decisions by local councils. Who will put their money into developing projects under those circumstances?
The Home Office has said people could face up to two years in jail for possessing laughing gas, “nitrous oxide”, under its plans to ban it for recreational use. (See 3.30pm.)
Birmingham city council, the largest local authority in the country, has in effect declared itself bankrupt after issuing a section 114 notice, signalling that it does not have the resources to balance its budget.
Updated
Starmer announces new appointments to Labour's frontbench
Keir Starmer has announced new appointments to the Labour frontbench, the party has announced.
Keir Starmer has made the following appointments to the Labour Party’s frontbench. pic.twitter.com/vxp7FDK3Ss
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) September 5, 2023
A reader asks:
What happened to the economic, crime and corporate transparency bill in the House of Commons yesterday? It is really annoying when there are reports of such things, as there was yesterday, and then it is not followed up.
I think the reader may be referring to this article by Lucy Nash.
There were five votes in the Commons last night on amendments passed in the House of Lords that would have strengthened the bill. The government won all five votes easily, throwing out the Lords amendments. But some Conservative MPs did rebel and vote with the opposition. They were: Sir Julian Lewis, chair of the intelligence and security committee (who rebelled four times); Sir Robert Buckland, the former justice secretary (who rebelled three times); and Sir Jeremy Wright, the former culture secretary and former attorney general (who rebelled twice).
Updated
Iain Porter, a senior policy adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has posted a good thread on X/Twitter about the proposed changes to the work capability assessment. (See 4.15pm.) It starts here.
Govt announced today they’re consulting on new changes (to come in from 2025) to health-related out-of-work (‘incapacity’) benefits (affecting people on #UniversalCredit & ESA). What are the proposals and what do they mean?🧵1/10 https://t.co/QE1WkKB5Kg
— Iain Porter (@IainKPorter) September 5, 2023
And here are three of his points.
The stated aims behind today’s announcement – more support to help people into work where they want it – are positive. It’s not right that disabled people who want to work don’t currently get the level of support they should, and are essentially written off by DWP... BUT 6/10
The stated aims behind today’s announcement – more support to help people into work where they want it – are positive. It’s not right that disabled people who want to work don't currently get the level of support they should, and are essentially written off by DWP... BUT 6/10
— Iain Porter (@IainKPorter) September 5, 2023
BUT, improving support could be done without necessarily changing WCA assessment criteria. And these WCA changes need to be handled very carefully to avoid disabled people losing the financial safety net they need. 7/10
... BUT, improving support could be done without necessarily changing WCA assessment criteria. And these WCA changes need to be handled very carefully to avoid disabled people losing the financial safety net they need. 7/10
— Iain Porter (@IainKPorter) September 5, 2023
And unfortunately, given recent sounds that Treasury is looking for ways to cut spending, the suspicion is that the real aim of these WCA proposals is simply to cut projected expenditure at the next budget - not a good basis for genuine improvements for disabled people. 8/10
And unfortunately, given recent sounds that Treasury is looking for ways to cut spending, the suspicion is that the real aim of these WCA proposals is simply to cut projected expenditure at the next Budget - not a good basis for genuine improvements for disabled people. 8/10
— Iain Porter (@IainKPorter) September 5, 2023
Updated
At least 11 schools with Raac had refurbishment plans cancelled when Tories took office, investigation reveals
At least 11 secondary schools in England where Raac has been confirmed had refurbishment plans scrapped when the Conservatives came to power, Schools Week reports.
In her story Samantha Booth reports:
Former education secretary Michael Gove canned Labour’s major £55bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) in 2010. He said he did not want to “waste any more money” on the scheme, which would have rebuilt every secondary school by this year.
A total of 735 rebuilds in England were halted.
Schools Week analysis of public documents* suggests as many as 11 of these secondary schools now have had to close because they have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).
Six alone are in Essex – one of the areas hardest hit by the RAAC crisis.
Labour said the revelation showed why the government should accept responsibility for the current crisis. Stephen Morgan, the shadow schools minister, said:
Rather than asking for a pat on the back, ministers need to take responsibility for this crisis and be honest with parents about how 13 years of Conservative neglect for our school estate has caused this mess.
Updated
Charities express concern about plans to tighten tests for out-of-work benefits for disabled people
Charities representing disabled people have expressed concern about government plans to change the work capability assessment (WCA) – a test used to assess whether people qualify for extra benefits because they are unable to work for health reasons.
Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, presented this as part of a plan to help more disabled people into employment when he announced the move to MPs.
But experts have said that a stricter test could lead to some claimaints losing signficant sums.
Stride told MPs:
The work capability assessment doesn’t reflect how someone with a disability or health condition might be able to work from home, yet we know many disabled people do just that.
Our plans include taking account of the fact that people with mobility problems or who suffer anxiety within the workplace have better access to employment opportunities from the rise in flexible and home working.
The government is consulting on changes to how the WCA is applied. It says the proportion of claimants getting the highest award has risen from 21% in 2011 to 65% in 2022.
In an analysis, the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank says the changes could have a significant impact on people who no longer qualify. “Not only will they lose out on the additional income (typically almost £400 per month) … claimants are entitled to, they will also be required either to prepare for work or to search for a job in order to keep receiving benefits,” it says.
But the IFS also says that, because the change will not come into effect until 2025, and because the WCA is due to be replaced at the end of the decade anyway, the reform will “at most deliver a short-run saving before becoming irrelevant”.
Scope, the disability equality charity, said it was concerned about the plans. Its executive director of strategy, James Taylor, said:
We’re worried these proposals will end up forcing huge numbers of disabled people to look for work when they aren’t well enough, making them more ill. If they don’t meet strict conditions, they’ll have their benefits stopped. In the grips of a cost-of-living crisis this could be catastrophic.
And Sarah White, head of policy at the disability charity Sense, said the plans could “cause huge anxiety for disabled people up and down the country”. She said:
We’re seriously concerned that if the government does overhaul its assessment process without putting any additional support in place, then disabled people are just going to be put under more pressure to find work, without having the support they need to do so.
Updated
People with laughing gas could face up to two years in jail under plans to ban it published by Home Office
People could face up to two years in jail for possessing laughing gas “nitrous oxide” under plans to ban it for recreational use published by the Home Office today.
Rishi Sunak announced the plan to ban laughing gas (except for when it is being used for legitimate purposes, such as catering and medicine) earlier this year as part of a commitment to tackling antisocial behaviour.
Today, following a consultation, the Home Office says it is introducing secondary legislation. It says:
Secondary legislation has been brought forward today which will control nitrous oxide as a class C substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The new measures are expected to come into force by the end of the year.
Nitrous oxide is the third most used drug among 16 to 24-year-olds in England and police have reported links to antisocial behaviour – intimidating gatherings on high streets and in children’s parks, and empty canisters strewn across public spaces. Heavy regular use of nitrous oxide can also lead to a deficiency of vitamin B12, a form of anaemia and in more severe cases, nerve damage or paralysis.
Those found in unlawful possession of the drug could face up to two years in prison or an unlimited fine, and up to 14 years for supply or production. There will be exemptions for legitimate uses of nitrous oxide, for example in medical or catering industries.
Ministers have suggested they are banning the drug more because of the mess caused by discarded laughing gas canisters than because of the possible risk it poses to health. The independent Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs advised against the move, saying a ban would be disproportionate.
Updated
In the Commons MPs have just started the debate on the energy bill. Andrew Bowie, the energy minister, is leading for the government. Before he started, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory former business secretary, complained that just three hours were available for the report stage debate, even though the bill runs to 328 pages, and 145 amendments have been tabled.
Earlier Rees-Mogg told GB News he would be voting against the bill. He explained:
The government’s role is to make life easier for people to lift burdens off their shoulders. The bill should be reversing the ban on oil boilers set to affect 1.7m homes across the country. It should be reversing the boiler ban on all new builds in 2025, taking away one of the lowest costs of heating. It should be reversing the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel car cars, it should be making it easier to rent or sell homes to ease the housing crisis, not harder. The bill does the opposite.
For the right reason it ought to be scrapped or at least entirely de-fanged, which is what I was trying to do in my brief period as energy secretary. I obviously won’t be supporting this bill.
Updated
Gove confirms government to abandon rule that imposed de facto ban on new onshore windfarms
Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, has published details of the government’s plans to allow onshore windfarms to be built. The government first announced its willingness to get rid of the de facto ban on new onshore turbines last year (in a U-turn from the position Rishi Sunak set out when he was standing for Tory leader a few months earlier) and details are being published today to avert a defeat on the energy bill. (See 12.54pm.)
In a written ministerial statement, Gove says:
We are … adjusting the policy so that local authorities can more flexibly address the planning impact of onshore wind projects as identified by local communities, on which we intend to publish further guidance. We have heard accounts that current policy has been applied in such a way that a very limited number of objections, and even at times objections of single individuals, have been taken as showing a lack of community backing. This is not the policy intent, and as a result of today’s policy change it will now be important that local decision makers are able to take a more balanced approach, considering the views of communities as a whole. The government is also open to novel ways to demonstrate community consent, building on best practice and using new digital engagement techniques.
Gove also said that in future there would be “more agile and targeted routes” for deciding where windfarms would go. It would not have to be decided through local plans, he said. As a result, sites could be found more quickly, he said.
And he confirmed that the government wanted to ensure that communities that approve windfarms could benefit, for example through lower bills.
Updated
The chair of another statutory inquiry concerning the NHS has been announced today, with Kate Lampard named by Steve Barclay as the choice to lead the independent inquiry into the deaths of almost 2,000 mental health patients across NHS trusts in Essex.
It comes the day after Barclay announced that Lady Justice Thirlwall would head the public inquiry into the murders by Lucy Letby.
Like the Letby inquiry, the Essex mental health inquiry was only granted legal powers after protests, including by its outgoing chair, Dr Geraldine Strathdee, who is standing down for personal reasons, that it would be toothless without them.
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Humza Yousaf says Scottish government 'unashamedly anti-poverty and pro-growth' as he publishes plans for 2023-24
Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, has just published his programme for government for 2023-24.
Addressing MSPs, Yousaf said that his plans were “unashamedly anti-poverty and pro-growth”.
Referring to his grandfather, Muhammad Yousaf, who was a small business owner, the first minister said his grandfather could not have achieved what he did without the support of society. “There is no doubt in my mind that economic growth goes hand in hand with tackling poverty, as it did for my grandfather all those decades ago,” he said.
Yousaf went on:
This programme is an opportunity to be explicit about the driving mission of this government.
So let me make it abundantly clear, we are a government who will maximise every lever at our disposal to tackle the scourge of poverty in our country.
We have adopted progressive tax and spending policies to face those challenges, and I will never shy away from the belief that those who earn the most should pay the most.
But let me be equally clear, without any equivocation, we also need to support economic growth. Not for its own sake but so we can tackle poverty and improve our public services.
Updated
Stephen Kinnock, the shadow immigration minister, was responding to Jenrick. He dismissed the claim that the government was succeeding in reducing small boat crossings. He said they reached a record high at the weekend, and he said poor weather explained why numbers were down in July and August. “A strategy that depends on the wather is probably not a very sustainable strategy at all,” he said.
Jenrick tells MPs government on track to clear legacy backlog of asylum claims by end of year
Jenrick says the government has achieved its aim of hiring more decision makers to process asylum claims. He says there were 2,500 in place by 1 September, an increase of 174% on the same point last year.
That means the government is on track to clear the legacy backlog of applications by the end of the year, he says.
He says provisional figures for July showed the overall backlog down.
He says the number of people crossing the Channel on small boats is 20% below what it was at the same point last year.
And in August crossings were down by a third, he says.
He says the government should be judged against the worst case scenario for small boat arrivals in 2023, which was 85,000. That estimate was produced by the Home Office last year.
Interestingly, Jenrick says this was the scenario given to the government “when taking office last year”. In fact, the government has been in office, in one form or another, since 2010, but for obvious reasons Rishi Sunak is keen to argue the clock only started in 2022.
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, is making a statement to MPs about illegal migration.
He says the government is doing whatever it takes to stop the small boats.
To tackle the problem upstream, the government has agreed a partnership with Turkey. And he says he has visited Egypt, too.
In the UK, Jenrick says the government is clamping down on landlords and employers who house or hire illegal migrants. He says inspections are up by 50%. And more penalties are being issued, he says.
He says enforcement action against lawyers who coach migrants to cheat the system is being increased.
Updated
Here is the exchange from Gillian Keegan’s interview with Jeremy Vine where she said her outburst yesterday was not aimed at Rishi Sunak.
Vine said:
We also heard yesterday from a guy called Jonathan Slater who used to be the civil servant of the Department for Education, who said we knew between 2019 and 2022 that between 300 and 400 schools needed rebuilding. And in the end, the chancellor refused the money but he cut the budget for rebuilding. And the chancellor was Rishi Sunak. So I’m guessing here, if I may, minister, that the person who you said is sitting on his bum is the prime minister.
And Keegan replied:
Absolutely not. The prime minister when he was chancellor announced the school rebuilding programme in 2020 to rebuild 500 schools. So I don’t know what Jonathan’s talking about …
What they do, the Treasury – first of all, people always put in bids [for money] which are high.
And what they do is they look in the round and they look at your track record. If you look at the track record – and I’ve gone through this now and looked at every year in terms of school building – every year apart [from] one we’ve built 50 schools.
Updated
Q: The government has a track record of not valuing state education, and not funding it properly. The Institute for Fiscal Studies published a report yesterday saying funding was well down.
Keegan says school spending is higher than it was in 2010.
But she accepts, that if you compare capital spending to one particular year in the past, it has gone down. But capital spending goes up and down, and sometimes there are bumper years, she says.
And that’s it. The interview is over.
Updated
Q: Are you trying to make a splash to be ready for a leadership contest?
No, says Keegan. And she says she would not try to do it that way.
Vine reads a question from a listener suggesting a teacher who swore would be sacked.
Keegan says she apologised. But she says she does not think people should be sacked for swearing.
Updated
Q: Do you have the full list of schools affected by Raac?
No, says Keegan. She says some that were assessed as non-critical have been moved to critical.
There are others were Raac is suspected. They are being surveyed.
And she says 5% of organisations that were meant to respond to a survey about Raac in buildings have not yet responded. She says she has written to them again, and asked them to respond by the end of the week.
Updated
Keegan says she decided to change the rules over the summer after a ceiling with Raac in it, that had been judged non-critical, suddenly collapsed. There was no other explanation, she says.
With 100 other ceilings in a similar state, she says she could not risk not taking precautions.
Vine suggests that, when Keegan complained about others doing nothing about this problem, she must have been talking about her predecessors.
Keegan does not accept that. They did act, she claims.
She says she thinks the DfE has done an excellent job. And no one has acknowledged that, she says. That is what she meant.
Keegan says her dig at people doing nothing about Raac was not aimed at Sunak
Jeremy Vine starts by playing a clip of Gillian Keegan’s TV outburst yesterday.
Q: You have apologised. But what did you mean?
Keegan says she was annoyed the interviewer seemed to be pinning all the blame on her. But Raac has been around for years, she says. And she thinks the department has been doing a good job. It has been monitoring Raac for a long time.
Q: But this was installed in the 60s and 70s with a 30-year lease.
It was a 50-year lease, says Keegan. But it was changed to a 30-year lease.
Q: But why have you waited for so long?
The Institute of Structural Engineers says Raac is okay to use, but it needs to be monitored, she says. She says in March 2020 the Department for Education started surveying schools to see if they had Raac. Where they were unsure, structural engineers were sent in.
What changed over the summer is that there were three cases of Raac failing, she says.
That’s what happens if you leave 30-year concrete for 60 years, Vine says.
Q: Jonathan Slater said yesterday that when he was at DfE they knew hundreds of schools needed to be rebuilt. But Rishi Sunak cut the budget. So, when you were talking about people sitting on their bum doing nothing, were you referring to Sunak?
No, says Keegan.
Q: Were you amazed at the decision taken by Sunak?
Keegan says she has looked at the issued in detail. Governments tend to build.
She says Sunak announced a programme to rebuild 500 schools even though there were in the middle of Covid. And he has funded a pay rise for teachers, and he has increased funding for childcare.
UPDATE: See the post at 1.42pm for full quotes.
Updated
Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, is about to be interviewed by Jeremy Vine on Radio 2. This morning the Daily Telegraph has her “fighting for survival”.
Tuesday's DAILY TELEGRAPH: 'Concrete crisis and 'hot mic' rant leave Keegan fighting for survival' #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/4Bhe8btoYe
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) September 4, 2023
What should be equally worrying for her is that, for the opposition, she is becoming a figure of fun. Once politicians lose their credibility, it can be hard to get it back.
This is from the Labour party.
https://t.co/78RXebEoLn pic.twitter.com/KCU3yTw2LC
— Labour Press (@labourpress) September 5, 2023
And this is from the TUC.
Not appreciated at work?
— Trades Union Congress (@The_TUC) September 5, 2023
Join a union. pic.twitter.com/lczuYfMIIz
The children’s commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, has criticised the Welsh government’s response to the Raac crisis.
Schools across Wales are being checked for Raac but Jeremy Miles, the Welsh education minister, said yesterday it was “regrettable” that the UK government had not shared what it knew about the problem with the devolved nations earlier.
Cifuentes said:
This situation has the potential to cause significant anxiety to children and their parents. Statements issued by the minister so far don’t give families the clarity they need on what this means for them or the next steps for their school, in a way that is easy to understand.
What children and their families need to hear is not a blame game but details of the extent of the problem, what exactly will happen over the next few weeks and reassurance that schools are safe. It is unacceptable that this situation has been allowed to develop to the point of disrupting children’s education and causing worry to families.
Updated
Rishi Sunak told cabinet that it was right to “prioritise safety” by closing schools affected by the Raac concrete crisis, the prime minister’s spokesperson told journalists.
At this morning’s lobby briefing, the spokesperson said:
The prime minister provided a short update on the government’s approach to Raac in school settings.
He said it was right to prioritise safety and take a proactive approach of doing everything possible to minimise disruption in the small portion of schools which are affected.
He said parents should be reassured that the vast majority of schools are not impacted by Raac and that mitigations either are or are being put in place for those already identified, meaning face-to face-education was either uninterrupted or the impacts have been kept to the bare minimum.
The spokesperson also said Sunak chaired a ministerial meeting yesterday on the extent of Raac in public buildings generally, although the minister leading on this issue is Jeremy Quin from the Cabinet Office, the spokesperson said.
Updated
As Kiran Stacey and Helena Horton reported in an overnight story, the government is announcing changes to planning rules that will get rid of the de facto ban on new onshore wind turbines being installed in England. (Theoretically is not a total ban, but in practice it amounts to one, because the rules introduced by David Cameron mean a windfarm can be blocked on the basis of an objection from just one resident.)
The move is intended to avert a government defeat when MPs debate the energy bill this afternoon. Ministers are at risk of losing because more than 20 Conservatives are backing an amendment tabled by Sir Alok Sharma, the former Cop26 president, getting rid of the ban.
The government has not yet published its compromise proposal, but ITV’s Anushka Asthana says she thinks it will be enough to see off the rebellion.
Sounds to me like the govt has done just about enough to quell the rebellion on onshore wind today. The planning restriction that allows just one person to object and stop a development is going (that made it effective ban on onshore wind). But still requires council consent
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) September 5, 2023
Mid Bedfordshire byelection to take place on 19 October
The byelection in Mid Bedfordshire caused by the resignation of Nadine Dorries will take place on Thursday 19 October, Central Bedfordshire, the council organising it, has announced.
Dorries had a majority of 24,664 in 2019 and, if the Tories were to lose, it would be the biggest byelection defeat in terms of number of voters (rather than vote share) in history. Pippa Crerar wrote a preview of the contest here.
Hunt says autumn statement to take place on Wednesday 22 November
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has announced that the autumn statement will take place on Wednesday 22 November. This may well be the second last “fiscal event” (to use the Treasury term for a mega-spending or tax announcement) before the general election. There will also be a budget in the spring. With the general election expected in October or November next year, Hunt may never get round to an 2024 autumn statement.
The Chancellor @Jeremy_Hunt has commissioned the @OBR_UK to prepare an economic and fiscal forecast to be presented to @UKParliament alongside his Autumn Statement on 22nd November 2023. pic.twitter.com/qiGOeFvnBq
— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) September 5, 2023
In making his announcement, Hunt also stresses that the autumn statement will be accompanied by a report from the Office for Budget Responsibility. This is routine, and something that normally never needs highlighting. But Hunt may be keen to point out that he will not be following the example of his predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng, who delivered an autumn statement last year (the so-called mini-budget) without letting the OBR do an assessment. That was one of several reasons why it blew up, ending Liz Truss’s premiership.
Updated
Birmingham city council, the largest local authority in the country, has in effect declared itself bankrupt after issuing a section 114 notice signalling it cannot balance its budget without help, Jessica Murray reports.
Greg Hands, the Conservative party chair, claims that this shows the Labour party can’t manage public money properly – even though Conservative-run councils, like Northamptonshire and Thurrock, have also had similar problems.
My regular reminder that when Labour run something, they run it badly.
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) September 5, 2023
And once again, there is “no money left” at Britain’s largest Council.
Birmingham City Council 'effectively bankrupt' - BBC News https://t.co/C8yKAk6hDs
Labour's Wes Streeting suggests more flexible working in NHS might allow hospitals to improve weekend cover
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, told the Today programme this morning that Labour would support the government if it introduces a “Martha’s rule” in England to make it easier for patients and their families who believe their concerns are not being taken seriously by medical staff to get a second medical opinion. Jamie Grierson has the story here.
In his interview, Streeting also said that Labour would consider whether encouraging more flexible working in the NHS might allow hospitals to provide better cover at weekends.
Asked if he was concerned about the number of senior staff available at weekends, Streeting said he was worried about “the Monday to Friday culture that sees patients potentially at greater risk over the weekends”. He went on:
The last Labour government delivered the shortest waiting times, the highest patient satisfaction in the history of the NHS, but I also talk to NHS staff who increasingly want more flexible working.
And I wonder if there’s the opportunity to have the best of both worlds here, which is seven-day care and consistent care right throughout the week for patients, at the same time as offering NHS staff greater flexibility as they juggle their own family lives.
Those are some of the reform-driven conversations that I’m having right across the NHS workforce at the moment.
Streeting said Labour would say more on this topic before the general election.
Kemi Badenoch, the business and trade secretary, was smiling as she left No 10 after cabinet this morning. Perhaps she has been reading the latest ConservativeHome survey of Tory members, which asks them to rate all members of cabinet. Ben Wallace used to regularly come top when he was defence secretary, but he is out of office now, and Badenoch is the clear leader.
Rishi Sunak is near the bottom – with his ratings down significantly compared with last month.
Updated
After 12.30pm there will be one urgent question in the Commons, followed by two statements. Here they are, with rough timings.
12.30pm: A levelling up minister will respond to an urgent question about relaxing the nutrient neutrality rules.
Around 1.15pm: Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, will give a statement on plans to change the work capability assessment rules for people on sickness benefits.
Around 2.15pm: Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, will give an update on illegal immigration.
That means the debate on the remaining stages of the energy bill will not start until around 3.15pm.
Updated
According to a report in East Anglia Bylines, a citizen journalism website, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, privately told someone earlier this year that if she could just “keep a lid” on the Raac problem until the election, it would then be Labour’s problem. The report says:
A reliable source has informed us that in early February, two months after the risk level was raised to high, education secretary Gillian Keegan remarked, “We just need to keep the lid on this for two years and then it’s someone else’s problem.“
This, according to the Surveyors in Education, was when schools were given an ‘urgent deadline’ to tell the government if ‘they have potentially dangerous RAAC on their estate.’
This does sound like the sort of thing a politician in a government party 20 points behind in the opinion polls might say – but more as a joke than as a reference to a “cover-up” (to use the description East Anglia Bylines deploys in a sub-heading).
However, the Department for Education says Keegan did not make this comment. A spokesperson said they did not know the source of the claim and that, having checked, they have established it is not accurate. “She has not made these comments,” he said.
Updated
Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection to take place on 5 October, just before Labour conference
The byelection for Rutherglen and Hamilton West triggered by the recall petition against Margaret Ferrier will take place on 5 October, the earliest date available after Westminster returned from recess.
The date was confirmed this morning by Cleland Sneddon, the returning officer for South Lanarkshire council, after the Scottish National party moved the writ when Westminster resumed on Monday afternoon.
The byelection was called after nearly 12,000 voters in Rutherglen and Hamilton West signed a recall petition, the first in a Scottish constituency, after Ferrier was suspended from the Commons for 30 days after travelling to London despite suspecting she had Covid in 2021.
It will be a significant electoral test for Humza Yousaf, the beleaguered leader of the Scottish National party, with Labour widely expected to win back the seat. Labour’s annual party conference begins the weekend after the byelection, and a surprise SNP victory would get it off to gloomy start.
Boosted by repeated visits from senior party figures including Keir Starmer and officials from party headquarters in London, Labour has been campaigning hard in Rutherglen since Ferrier’s suspension was recommended in March.
The seat has swung between the SNP and Labour over the last three general elections. Ferrier first took the seat from Labour in 2015, when the SNP nearly swept the board, winning 56 of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats. Labour narrowly won it back in 2017, with a 265-vote majority, before Ferrier regained it in 2019.
The seat will disappear in its current form at the next general election, to be renamed Rutherglen, with a different boundary.
Updated
UK government has been 'world leading' in identifying schools with Raac problems, says minister
Here are more lines from what Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said on his media interview round this morning.
Gibb claimed the government had been “world leading” in identifying schools with a problem caused by Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete). He said:
We are world-leading in terms of identifying where Raac is in our school estate.
We’re talking about a small number of schools out of 22,500 schools, but we have conducted surveys since March last year, so we know where Raac is, and we’re sending in surveyors to identify Raac.
He said he expected the problem in schools which do have Raac in buildings to be resolved well before Christmas. Asked if it would be sorted out by then, he told LBC:
I suspect that will be all sorted out far sooner than Christmas.
We know that the 52 schools that we’ve already sent in … alternative accommodation has been found, mitigation, propping, whatever it is, has all happened in those 52 schools. I expect the same thing to happen in the remaining 104 schools.
He said the list of schools in England affected by Raac problems would be published before Friday. He said he thought all schools that would be on the list had already notified parents.
He said that 5% of bodies responsible for schools in England have still not responded to a questionnaire sent out by the Department for Education to allow it to assess the Raac risk. Speaking to Times Radio, he claimed that frustration with the bodies that have not responded partly explained Gillian Keegan’s outburst yesterday.
He said that he expected more cases of Raac in schools to be identified – although he said only 1% of surveys led to Raac being found.
He defended Rishi Sunak’s decision as chancellor to refuse the DfE’s request for funding for 200 schools to be rebuilt per year. He told Sky News:
We put in a bid for 200, but what Rishi agreed to was to continue the rebuilding programme with 50 a year, consistent with what we’d been doing since we came into office.
Of course we put in a bid for 200, but of course the Treasury then has to compare that with all the other priorities from right across Whitehall, from the health service, defence, and so on.
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Starmer says it is 'unforgivable' children not in school because of Raac school building crisis
In his opening address to his new shadow cabinet this morning, Keir Starmer said the Raac school building crisis was an example of what he meant when he accused the government of sticking-plaster politics. Using a phrase also used by the head of the National Audit Office today (see 9.32am), Starmer said:
Children are not at school today because of the action the government has failed to take in relation to schools. That is unforgivable.
It is a metaphor, frankly, for their sticking- plaster politics: never fixing the fundamentals – always sticking plasters.
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Cost of fixing UK school concrete crisis still not known, minister says
Ministers still do not know how much the concrete crisis will cost to repair, Nick Gibb, the schools minister, admitted in interviews this morning. Ben Quinn has the story.
Keir Starmer tells his new shadow cabinet they need to provide answer to question: 'Why Labour?'
Sky News has just broadcast footage of Keir Starmer addressing the shadow cabinet after his reshuffle yesterday. He told his colleagues that they had been chosen to sit round the table for four reasons.
You are around his table because of four things: your talent, your commitment, your hunger – really, really important – and because I wanted a team that wakes up every morning determined to rise to the challenges that our country faces and determined to improve our country for the better.
He also said the team needed to provide an answer to the question: ‘Why Labour?’
This will be the last conference before we go to the country so it’s very important that we are able to show that we are ready as a party, show the changes that we have talked about, that we have the answers that the country so desperately needs, and we can answer the question: ‘Why Labour?’ and put forward our positive case to the country.
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Government has adopted 'sticking-plaster approach' to school building safety, says Gareth Davies
Good morning. As you would expect, Labour and the other opposition parties have portrayed the Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) school building safety crisis as evidence of how the Conservatives’ failure to invest properly in infrastructure is now having potentially disastrous consequences. But you might not expect the National Audit Office to come out and say more or less exactly the same thing.
The NAO is highly respected, and that is partly because it does not do partisan politics, and it does not go in for sensationalism or over-statement. Its reports, although frequently newsworthy, are burdened with so much boring officialese that it can be hard for a reader to work out what the story actually is. Most people don’t know who the head of the NAO even is, because he does not chase headlines.
But today Gareth Davies, the NAO chief, is on the front page of the Times, where he has written an article in effect accusing the government of adopting a “sticking-plaster approach” to school building safety. He says:
Getting good value for public spending means giving sufficient priority to unflashy but essential tasks such as efficiently maintaining public buildings and replacing obsolete technology, as well as to more eye-catching new projects.
Two recent National Audit Office (NAO) reports demonstrate the problems caused by underinvestment in the physical estate for two essential public services: education and health. In June we reported on the condition of school buildings, concluding: “Following years of underinvestment, the estate’s overall condition is declining and about 700,000 pupils are learning in schools that the responsible body or Department for Education (DfE) believes needs major rebuilding or refurbishment. Most seriously, the DfE recognises significant safety concerns across the estate and has escalated these concerns to the government risk register.” This week pupils, parents and teachers are experiencing the disruptive impact of addressing those safety concerns with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) ….
The underlying challenge is that adequately funding responsible capital programmes for our public services leaves less for higher profile projects. Failure to bite this bullet leads to poor value, with more money required for emergency measures or a sticking-plaster approach.
Tuesday's TIMES: 'Tories 'have put sticking plaster on risky concrete''#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/hkP4xtOiug
— Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) September 4, 2023
By chance or intentionally (probably by chance), Davies is using Labour terminology. Keir Starmer has often accused the government of “sticking-plaster politics”, claiming it is not addressing the long-term causes of problems.
Nick Gibb, the schools minister, was doing an interview round this morning. Asked about Davies’s article, he said he did not accept his argument that the government was neglecting school buildings. Gibb said:
We take any official report from the National Audit Office extremely seriously, but I don’t agree with [Davies’s] comments in his article. We’re spending £1.8bn a year on maintenance and improvements to [schools].
I will post more from his interviews shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.15am: Keir Starmer chairs a meeting of his new shadow cabinet. Later he is expected to announces further frontbench changes affecting shadow ministers not in the shadow cabinet.
Morning: Rishi Sunak chairs cabinet.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
11.30am: Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons.
After 12.45pm: MPs begin a debate on the remaining stages of the energy bill.
1pm: Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, is due to be interviewed on Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 show.
2.20pm: Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, gives a statement to MSPs about his programme for government for 2023-24.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
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