Rundown schools risk ‘irreparable’ harm to pupils, UK children’s laureate says

Frank Cottrell Boyce:’It’s demonstrably, visibly getting worse. The gaps are enormous.’ Photograph: Simone Padovani/Awakening/Getty Images

The poor state of school buildings is exposing pupils to “irreparable” harm, the UK’s children’s laureate has said, after a Guardian investigation revealed that more than 1.5 million students in England were being taught in dilapidated schools.

The award-winning screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce said the Conservative party’s decision to freeze funding per pupil in England for 14 years had left the country with an “enormous” equality gap.