Under-fire education secretary Gillian Keegan has told school chiefs to “get off their backsides” to help fix the crumbling concrete crisis as The Independent can reveal safety fears have now spread to care homes.
For a second day running Ms Keegan was involved in an extraordinary row over the scandal as the government doubled down on its handling of the issue.
She insisted her department had done an "excellent job" – despite ordering more than 100 schools to fully or partially close just days before the start of the new school year.
But she was accused of “finger pointing” and trying to blame individual schools, while senior Tory MPs warned her job was “in danger”.
As concerns over the concrete, which has been compared to an “Aero bar”, spread, The Independent understands the government is sounding out care home providers about potential concerns across their estates.
It came as:
- NHS England urged health bosses to carry out an urgent review of hospitals – and draw up evacuation plans in case any need to close
- The crisis sparked panic in other public buildings, including theatres and the Houses of Parliament
- The chief inspector of prisons said it would be “enormously concerning” if the material was found in jails
- It emerged just four schools had been refurbished under the government’s main rebuilding programme, despite Rishi Sunak’s promise it would cover 50 a year
The government is still scrambling to find out how many public buildings could be affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) – but has no plans to tell the public where they are, No 10 indicated.
The prime minister chaired a meeting on the issue on Monday, although the work is being led by the Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin.
But while a full list of schools impacted will be released later this week after days of mounting pressure, Downing Street said it was “not aware” of plans to make public the full list of all buildings affected.
Gillian Keegan insisted her department had done an ‘excellent job’— (Mark Thomas/Shutterstock)
Mr Sunak's official spokesperson said: “For some time, indeed for years, many departments, including the Department for Education (DfE), have been furthering our understanding of where Raac is in their estate.”
He said work was being done to bring “together all that information into one place and (make) sure that departments … have any support that they need”.
In her latest comments, Ms Keegan hit out at the one in 20 schools she said had not yet responded to a survey about crumbling concrete.
She told the BBC’s Jeremy Vine Show that school chiefs should “get off their backsides” and inform ministers if they are affected – just a day after she was forced to apologise forsaying others had “sat on their a***” over collapsing schools.
The Confederation of School Trusts said it was “not helpful now to resort to finger pointing”, while the National Education Union (NEU) called her comments “outrageous”.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), accused Ms Keegan of a “second display of petulance in consecutive days – albeit on this occasion without the swear words attached”.
He said that schools had been expected to identify Raac “even though this is a specialist field and are unlikely to have staff who are experts in this area” and had “received minimal help” from the DfE.
Paul Whiteman, from the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: "Any attempt to start shifting the blame onto individual schools will be seen by parents and public for what it is: a desperate attempt by government to deflect from its own significant failings.”
He said ministers had known about Raac “for many years” but have only recently sent out the surveys.
He added: “The responsibility for this situation sits squarely on the government’s shoulders and no amount of deflection and distraction will change that.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: “It is outrageous of the education secretary to lay any responsibility for the Raac crisis at the door of schools. The fact is that the DfE has dragged its heels over many years on this issue.”
Teachers have been forced to put learning online or relocate over fears school buildings could collapse— (EPA/SWNS)
Senior Tories also warned Ms Keegan’s job was “in danger” over the scandal.
One senior Tory, an ex-minister, told The Independent that Ms Keegan was guilty of “amateur slip-ups” when speaking to the media – and warned her job was “in danger” if the government failed to get a grip of the Raac crisis.
Another former minister said the crisis had been “terribly handled” by Ms Keegan and her schools minister Nick Gibb. They said that Raac was a “long-standing issue that should be being dealt with locally – they’ve turned it into a national crisis”. They added “but I expect she will survive”, accusing Mr Sunak of being unable to carry out even a minor reshuffle after last week’s long-awaited re-jig of his top team saw just one cabinet minister moved.
Downing Street backed Ms Keegan's call for school chiefs to respond to the survey.
The prime minister's official spokesman: “Certainly, parents want reassurance on this and I think we would agree that it is important that all schools, as 95 per cent or more have already done so, fill out this survey so we can provide further reassurance. We know already that, in the vast majority of cases, parents and pupils will not be affected by this.”
But Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Munira Wilson accused Ms Keegan of comments that were a “slap in the face to all pupils and parents affected”.
