Calderdale Lead Member for Children and Young People’s Services, Councillor Adam Wilkinson, has today written to Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan to demand reassurances for parents over the presence of crumbling concrete in schools in the borough.

The council has taken action to check that no schools maintained by the local authority are affected by the issue. However, there is less clarity over the status of academy schools in the borough which are independent of council control. The local authority understands that the list of schools published today by the Department for Education (DfE) is not definitive, as the Government scrambles to gather more information on the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Branding the Government’s handling of the crisis ‘shambolic’, Councillor Wilkinson’s letter says: ‘This situation is nothing short of shameful, and a damning indictment of a Conservative government that has continued to slash budgets for school maintenance until lives are put at risk. Parents will not forgive you for playing fast and loose with the safety of their children.’

Challenging the Secretary of State to be transparent and take action, he called for publication of a full list of affected schools; for the list to be updated as new information becomes available; publication of plans to deal with the disruption to education and potential hazards; and a guarantee to Calderdale parents that all schools including academies, free schools and nurseries have been properly assessed and no children are at risk.

The current list of schools impacted by RAAC can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information