Just four schools have been refurbished under the government’s school rebuilding programme which Rishi Sunak said would cover 50 a year.
The figures were confirmed to Sky News as the prime minister continued to face questions over funding for England’s crumbing schools, while the education secretary is being mocked over a graphic that sought to allay fears over the crisis which has led to huge disruption at the start of the new term.
Gillian Keegan, who was yesterday forced to apologise for a sweary outburst on the matter, tweeted an image saying “most schools are unaffected” by reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC).
Labour was quick to post a spoof saying “most beachgoers not eaten by big shark”, in reference to the stance of the mayor in the movie Jaws.
RAAC has forced the full or part closure of over 100 schools in England this week due to fears it could collapse.
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The government is coming under pressure over its handling of the issue with critics blaming historic underinvestment into school infrastructure.
Sky News has learnt that a “massive” school rebuilding programme launched in 2020 to rebuild 500 schools within a decade has taken off to a slow start.
The plan was for schools to be refurbished at a pace of around 50 a year, but the Department for Education confirmed that just four schools have been completed since the first round of applications was launched in 2021.
Officials insist the programme is on track, and that they are still confident of “ramping up” to an average of 50 per year.
A report by the National Audit Office, which scrutinises government spending, in June warned that there were concerns about the schools programme.
They said by March of this year the department had awards just 24 contracts against a forecast of 83, due to “instability in the construction sector and inflationary risks”.
But the DfE said: “We have committed to rebuilding 500 schools under the Schools Rebuilding programme between 2020 and 2030 and are on track to deliver that commitment.
“Awarding contracts and establishing projects takes time but we have made rapid progress and are exceeding delivery timescales compared to the previous Priority School Building Programme, while delivering schools that will be net zero in operation. The Infrastructure and Project Authority has also highlighted the strength of the SRP’s progress.
Sunak ‘gave less funding than requested’ for crumbling schools’
It came as schools minister Nick Gibb admitted that his department had bid for 200 schools a year to be rebuilt, in a case made to the Treasury two years ago.
But Rishi Sunak, who was chancellor at the time, approved just 50 – despite the senior civil servant in the department, Jonathan Slater, warning of a “critical risk to life”.
Mr Gibb sought to defend the prime minister, telling Sky News was “simply not true” to say he oversaw budget cuts and that 50 a year was in line with previous austerity years.
Politics Live: Ministers were warned ‘180 times about school buildings’
He said: “We put in a bid for 200, but what Rishi agreed to was to continue the rebuilding programme with 50 a year, consistent with what we’d been doing since we came into office.
“Of course we put in a bid for 200, but of course the Treasury then has to compare that with all the other priorities from right across Whitehall, from the health service, defence, and so on.”
But Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth, who was made shadow paymaster general in Monday’s reshuffle, said it was “the most startling fact of the day”.
He told Sky News: “You’ve got the schools minister to admit that they asked for more investment to fix schools and Rishi Sunak’s cut it back, so the buck stops with him. Schools have had to close and roofs are being held up with steel girders.”
However, Mr Sunak has insisted it is “completely and utterly wrong” to characterise his spending decision on the schools rebuilding programme as a budget cut.
He said one of the first things he did as chancellor in his first spending review in 2020 “was to announce a new 10-year school rebuilding programme for 500 schools”.
He said that equated to “about 50 schools a year that will be refurbished or rebuilt” and “if you look at what we have been doing over the previous decade, that’s completely in line with what we have always done”.
Govt ‘most proactive in the world’
Criticism has continued after the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, was forced to apologise on Monday for a sweary outburst where she claimed others had failed to tackle the crisis.
Ministers have admitted that hundreds more schools may be impacted by RAAC – which was widely used in buildings from the 1950s to the mid-1990s.
There have been warnings about the material for many years, but the government said “new evidence” emerged over the summer about the dangers it poses – prompting them to order schools to close areas where it is present.
Mr Gibb insisted the government was doing more than anyone in the world after the head of the National Audit Office (NAO) accused ministers of a “sticking plaster approach”.
Writing in the Times on Tuesday, NAO chief Gareth Davies suggested that there had not been sufficient focus on “unflashy but essential tasks” such as maintaining public buildings that have faced “underinvestment”.
But Mr Gibb told Sky News: “I don’t accept that.
“We are taking more proactive action on that than any other government in the world.
“We are the government that put out the warning notice in 2018. We are the government that sent questionnaires to every responsible body asking them to tell us about RAAC in their schools.“