Keegan tells education chiefs to ‘get off their backsides’ as new RAAC warning issued

Not every building with Raac will be torn down, Gillian Keegan has said.

It was put to the education secretary that reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) with a 30-year lifespan is starting to collapse after 60 years.

She told Jeremy Vine: “Yes but you have to manage it, right? We’re not going to tear every building down that has Raac in it. You have to manage it.”

She noted that Raac “actually had a 50-year lease and then they changed it to 30”.

She put her sweary outburst the day before down to frustration that the interviewer “was trying to pin everything on me, you know, ‘why haven’t you done this, why haven’t you done that, why haven’t you done the other?’ And actually Raac has been around for a long time, since the 1950s to 1994.”

School chiefs who have not responded to a survey should “get off their backsides” and inform the government whether they are affected by crumbling concrete, Gillian Keegan has said.

The education secretary, who railed against those who had “sat on their arse and done nothing” in a sweary outburst a day earlier, told Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday: “The annoying bit and this was probably a bit of my frustration yesterday, is despite asking since March 2020, there’s 5% of schools or responsible bodies that have not responded to the survey.

“Now hopefully all this publicity will make them get off their backsides.

“But what I would like them to do is to respond because I want to be the Secretary of State that knows exactly in every school where there is Raac and takes action.”

She added: “We’ve written to them quite a few times and we’ve also set up a call centre to phone them up to ask them to do it and they still haven’t. So we have written to them yesterday and given them ‘til the end of the week.”

Minister of State for Schools Nick Gibb laughed awkwardly when he was asked about education secretary Gillian Keegan’s sweary outburst in the crumbling concrete scandal.

Mr Gibb was asked by BBC Brekfast presenter Ben Boulos: “Are you as frustrated as your boss Gillian Keegan clearly is? How do you express your frustrations?”

Mr Gibb laughed awkwardly and said: “This was an off the cuff comment. She has apologised for the language used.

“She was frustrated by the questioning. She knows how hard civil servants in the department have been working on this issue since 2018.”

Parliament is undergoing testing for Raac as the government becomes further embroiled in a crisis over the crumbling concrete, Bloomberg reports.

A source confirmed that tests were ongoing, but authorities were unable to say whether Raac has yet been detected.

Constructed in the 19th century, the buildings have been impacted by crumbling masonry, asbestos, leaks, vermin infestations and decades-old electrical wiring, with a body commissioned to produce estimates for a full-scale restoration finding that it would cost £22 billion and potentially take 76 years to carry out the work.

Because of a quirk of tradition, the summer holidays end a week earlier in Leicester than in the rest of the country.

“My understanding is they literally evacuated the place,” said parent Raj Kaur on Friday. “The first most parents knew about it was when we arrived for pick-up. All the children were out on the field. It was awful. Children were crying. My first thought was, ‘Has something terrible happened?’”

To some extent, something terrible had.

When Gillian Keegan was appointed education secretary by Rishi Sunak, she was the fifth person to hold the role in under four months and the sixth since the 2019 general election.

Less than a year later, she is fighting a major crisis after ordering more than 100 schools to make closures because of concerns that a crumbling aerated concrete could collapse.

The strain of that erupted in public on Monday when she unwittingly vented her frustrations, swearing about a lack of gratitude towards her while others have “sat on their arse and done nothing” while the cameras were still rolling after a broadcast interview.

Pupils across the country will be forced to resume their studies either online or in temporary facilities after the government ordered more than 100 schools to close immediately following fears over a type of concrete, described as “80 per cent air” and “like an Aero Bar”.

Known as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the potentially dangerous material was used to construct schools, colleges, and other buildings between the Fifties and mid-Seventies in the UK, but has since been found to be at risk of collapse.

Performances have been suspended at The Orchard Theatre, Dartford, due to the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).

A joint statement from Dartford Borough Council and Trafalgar Theatres said: “We’re sorry to announce that it has become necessary to suspend performances at The Orchard Theatre, Dartford with immediate effect.

“When The Orchard Theatre was built in the early 1980s, reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) was considered a cheap and lightweight alternative to traditional concrete and the theatre was one of thousands of public buildings to use it during construction.

“Dartford Borough Council has been commissioning regular surveys on The Orchard Theatre and the last report from our specialist consultants in April this year continued to report that defects in the Raac panels in the theatre’s roof were ‘not significant’. The council nevertheless began planning to replace panels in the ‘medium to long term’ in line with the consultant’s advice.

“However, a routine inspection yesterday (Monday), carried out in line with the most recent industry guidance resulted in the consultant making a recommendation to close until such time as further surveys could be carried out and a solution identified.”

Downing Street has backed Gillian Keegan’s call for school chiefs to respond to a survey about crumbling concrete.

The prime minister’s official spokesman did not repeat the education secretary’s call for the responsible bodies, councils and school trust leaders, to “get off their backsides”.

But he said: “Certainly, parents want reassurance on this and I think we would agree that it is important that all schools, as 95% 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.”

Scottish ministers have been aware of the risks of collapse-prone concrete since last summer, Shirley-Anne Somerville said as she pledged to be “open” with the public on concerns.

The Social Justice Secretary confirmed officials from the Scottish government had been communicating with local authorities since “way back in July 2022” to share information on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).

It comes as a freedom of information request shows a document prepared by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service warning of potential “structural collapse” of hospitals, the “prevalence of asbestos in buildings of this age” and the “unknown performance” of the material in a fire.

Ms Somerville said the concrete has been detected in 37 schools in Scotland, however the impacted schools are not expected to close while a “desk-based review” is conducted over the coming months.

But 104 schools south of the border have been partially or fully closed following concerns about the material.

Addressing MSPs in Holyrood during topical questions on Tuesday, Ms Somerville said: “This has of course been an issue that the government has been aware of for some time, and that’s why action has been taken, and has been for some time, for example way back in July 2022 Scottish government officials made contact with the Scottish heads of Property Services and directors of education in Scotland to share information on Raac.”

The Social Justice Secretary also moved to reassure pupils, parents and teachers of where the concrete has been discovered, adding: “I can completely appreciate why there is public concern on this, particularly given the way that announcements have been handled down in England.

“But I can reassure the member that we appreciate that public concern means we need to be as open as possible, as we can be, for this because parents and staff are concerned about this issue.”