Cost of fixing UK school concrete crisis still not known, minister says
The Guardian Ministers still do not know how much the concrete crisis will cost to repair, the schools minister has admitted, as he rejected accusations by the head of the UK spending watchdog that the government had adopted a sticking plaster approach to essential maintenance.
Nick Gibb said he and ministers were unable to come up with a figure because every school affected by the problem of crumbling reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) experienced it in different ways.
In some schools it will just be a room or a cupboard in others it will be pervasive throughout a school, he added.
Gibb said he didnt recognise claims this week by the Department for Educations (DfE) former head civil servant that Rishi Sunak had refused to properly fund a school rebuilding programme when he was chancellor, despite officials presenting evidence that there was a critical risk to life from crumbling concrete panels.
After the department told Sunaks Treasury that there was a need to rebuild 300 to 400 schools a year in England, he gave funding for only 100, which was then halved to 50, said Jonathan Slater, who was the permanent secretary of the department from 2016 to 2020.
