This government cares about the safety of schools, hence the action taken

[noblegiraffe]

Says the government as they close 100 schools just before term starts (or after in some cases).

If this is your first rodeo with the DfE you might be surprised to hear that they've known about the issue for years. That a school ceiling collapsed in 2018 and it was only because it happened at the weekend, kids weren't killed or injured. That reports put the risk of school collapse as 'critical', but the govt did nothing for 5 years. The risk of school collapse was raised to 'highly likely' in Dec 2022 and it took till March 2023 for the government to take the action of.... sending headteachers a questionnaire asking if they reckoned their school had RAAC. They then set up a call centre in June 2023 to phone schools asking why they hadn't completed the survey.
Fastforward to August and schools are being closed.

You might consider this an aberration. Schools are now safe. But.

Schools are still being built with Grenfell-style cladding. It's ok for schools. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/30/dozens-of-new-school-buildings-in-england-have-combustible-insulation

Schools aren't being fitted with sprinklers, going against fire safety advice https://www.nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/write/MediaUploads/Position%20statements/Protection/NFCC_Sprinklers_schools_position_statement_march_2018.pdf

The issue of asbestos which is present in over 80% of schools is becoming increasingly pressing. It's ok if asbestos is managed correctly, right? https://schoolsweek.co.uk/nearly-1-in-5-schools-not-in-line-with-guidance-on-managing-asbestos/ Asbestos is ok if left undisturbed, but with school buildings crumbling and falling apart, this means that previously 'safe' asbestos now poses a risk.
The HSE has become so concerned that in Sept 2022 it decided to start inspections of schools for asbestos management. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKHSE/bulletins/3204596 you might have thought that they did this already?

The government recently hired a contractor to build several new schools which have been unable to open due to safety concerns and some have now been demolished. There was a risk of them blowing away in high winds....but they were cheap. https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2023/08/24/caledonian-modular-built-schools-at-risk-of-collapse-in-high-winds/

The cost of repairing the school estate to a merely satisfactory standard has been estimated by the DfE itself as £11.4bn. Nowhere near this has been allocated, meaning schools are not at a satisfactory standard and are not planned to be. https://schoolsweek.co.uk/repairing-englands-schools-will-cost-11-4-billion-dfe-admits/

It only matters if it closes schools though, right?

Come on, @noblegiraffe, it's only lower class children and teachers, not important people like what go to private schools and into politics.

Who cares if a bunch of asbestos dust falls on their heads while the building blows away in flames.

The should never have scrapped the Building Schools for the Future programme. But George Osborne was trying to paint a picture of Labour being spendthrifts at the time.

I mean it's only the future generation...

In Wales, where education including infrastructure is devolved and Labour has been in power for 24 years, the Welsh Government has only just (yesterday) announced that it is going to survey schools for RAAC.

More than one government has ignored the issue.

Exactly which is why education is too important to be left in the hand of politicians

Especially Tory politicians

Wales has been run by Labour for 24 years. And in Scotland, the SNP government has only just woken up to this problem too.

@RamblingRosieLee the previous Labour government had a policy place where they were refurbishing and building new schools.
When the Tories were elected in 2010 they cancelled this as part of their austerity drive. Along with many other issues caused by austerity the country is now suffering for it and it costs so much more now. Over the last 13 years the Tories have made just about everything in this country worse. Wales, Scotland and NI are also suffering because of cuts to their budgets in line with England's too.

God the Tu Quoque posts comparing Wales to Westminster are so stupid. They happen every time Tory incompetence snd malfeasance is mentioned this is why you can’t have nice things (I’m not in the UK) because instead of rioting in the streets and demanding service from either party everyone just lays back and snipes. The Tory party is publicly and vociferously committed to starving the lower snd middle class, destroying the NHS, underfunding schools, snd gutting public health, safety, snd environmental laws. Thats what they stand for! That’s their goal.

Labour tries to get back into power to clean up this shit show but has to appeal to voters who are too stupid or too complacent to think through the problem snd commit to big solutions that would involve things like higher taxes, stricter regulations on billionaires and millionaires, less money laundering, pumping money into the NHS and stopping gutting immigration (so you would have enough doctors and nurses). Absent the racism and stupidity of even labour voters labour wouldn’t have had to back Brexit and the whole country would be better off.

This in spades. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

I don't see this as a party political issue as much as an indictment of the state of modern UK politics. There are very few politicians from any party who I find impressive. This is yet another depressing example of how useless they are. Makig a bonfire of red tape inevitably leads to important health and safety regulations being binned and environmental health, building control, planning etc all being starved of funds, meaning they can't do their jobs and keep us all safe. Far too much posturing from all parties, far too little attention to the bread and butter issues.

This

This is definitely a party political issue. The tories made a decision to cancel a refurbishment programme in 2010.

Of course its a political issue! The whole point of government is to provide for the general welfare or, if not in a democracy, manage the nation’s assets. Politicians get in to power promising to do stuff to get votes. If voters don’t demand service in exchange for putting these people in power then voters need to have their heads examined.

Checking whether public buildings have RAAC in them would have been the responsibility of every government since at least the time the material stopped being used in the mid 1990s.

Devolution was in place in Wales and Scotland by 1999, not long after discontinuation of the use of RAA, and since then Labour has been in power in Wales and the SNP in Scotland.

All governments have neglected this issue.

And it has been known about for a long time. A construction trade website says "In 1982, production of RAAC in the UK stopped amid concerns over its structural performance and life expectancy, which was subsequently predicted by BRE to be around 30 years."

I presume something has come up to force their hand (insurance company refusing to cover the risk).
OR the schools closing will be ones already closed.
There’s something fishy about this story and the timing.
Here in BC Canada, seismic standards are not up to snuff, and the schools are closed and fixed on a one by one quick succession plan vs 100 at once.

I have young children and it makes me so incredibly anxious to think of them spending every day in these buildings. The schools in my area are all run down asbestos-ridden disasters.

What am I supposed to do?! (Except for vote accordingly) I just feel powerless. And angry.

I doubt it affects ministers children. Why would they rush to support mere civilians? There were holidays to have this summer.....

Isn't it strange that after years of under funding and squeezing school budgets under the terms of austerity the buildings are now collapsing? I mean surely it's nothing to do with government policy?? The poor tories have been lining their own pockets for many many years because no one likes to be poor.

Can't wait until they are voted out and this shit show of a country can get back on its feet

You know how people harp on about Labour and 2008? Well, I really hope that crumbling schools and hospitals is something that follows the Tories for generations though I shan't hold my breath

It’s scary, we all send our children to school trusting they are safe but for many the buildings are making it anything but.

the daft thing is I work in a school built 200 years ago and that is probably a safer structure than many of the much newer schools.

let’s not forget in 2010 Gove scrapped the scheme to build schools for the future!

The well-being of children is neglected again and again in this country. In other, unrelated news, children can't vote.

The Conservative government VOTED AGAINST making a list of unsafe schools public.

"After a series of questions tabled by Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Munira Wilson, the Government revealed parts of the survey data, including that:

• 7,158 schools in England contain at least one building component, such as a roof, door or light fittings, deemed to be “life expired and/or at serious risk of imminent failure”;
• Almost nine in 10 schools have at least one building component that has a “major defect” or is “not operating as intended”.

Overall, more than 240,000 fixtures and fittings were found to be defective. However, the Government has still refused to confirm which schools in the country have these defects and today voted to keep the names concealed despite a previous pledge to publish the data in full."

(this was not about RAAC specifically, but unsafe schools in general)

https://www.fenews.co.uk/social-impact/conservative-mps-vote-to-cover-up-dangerous-school-buildings/

As I tried to point out in my OP, this RAAC issue is just another time where the government show a cavalier disregard for school safety (don't even get me started on covid...).

Fucking useless arseholes.

Oh it was quite intentional! They aren't inept, the tories are absolutely fabulous at lining pockets of the rich and elite. It what they do best 😀 they are brilliant at it.

Giving the poor handouts, food banks, universal credit and expecting them to be grateful.
Also spectacular at dividing people and pitting them against each other. Asylum seekers is a great point in that direction!

At least there won't be 20,000 avoidable deaths as happened when the government in 2020 was at least three weeks late in acting on a virus, with the Prime Minister missing five COBRA meetings.