It's not our fault

Parents across the country will have worried if it's safe to send their children back to school

Just in case anyone is not entirely clear, that more than a hundred schools are starting the new academic year either completely or partially closed, is not the fault of Rishi Sunak.

It’s also important to understand that, contrary to popular opinion, ensuring schools do not collapse around our children is not the responsibility of the Department for Education.

And that this issue has cropped up now, just days before children return to classrooms for the Autumn term, is only because the government is getting to grips with the issue of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and not a consequence of ministers hoping the problem would just go away after years of warnings.

All of the above are the arguments the government is now relying upon as it races to shift the blame for their failure to tackle this issue despite being in power since 2010 and not the start of a ‘Two Johns’ sketch with John Bird and John Fortune descending the depths of political absurdity.

And so, we have the new political term getting under way with Rishi Sunak insisting it’s ‘completely and utterly wrong’ to blame him in any way for the RAAC chaos which has left parents up and down the country wondering whether it is even safe to send their children back into classrooms.

In his televised statement, Mr Sunak added: ‘One of the first things I did as chancellor in 2020 was to announce a new ten-year school rebuilding programme for 500 schools. Now that equates to about 50 schools a year that will be refurbished or rebuilt and if you look at what we’ve been doing over the previous decade that’s completely in line with what was done, about 50 or so schools a year refurbished or rebuilt.’

This claim does the opposite of its intention as, rather than showing how well he and the government are doing, it instead

confirms the inadequacy of school refurbishments for over a decade.

Just this morning, Jonathan Slater, who was permanent secretary at the Department for Education (DfE) between May 1016 and August 2002, told the Today programme that civil servants recommended up to 400 schools a year needed to be repaired after investigations had been carried out.

The Treasury was asked to increase funding to repair 200 a year with Mr Slater saying, ‘we were able to present really good data… weren’t just saying there’s a significant risk of fatality, we were saying [there was] a critical risk to life if this programme is not funded’.

He added: ‘I thought we'd get it but the actual decision made in 2021 was to halve down from 100 a year to 50 a year.’

Rishi Sunak was, of course, the chancellor when this decision was made.

But, obviously, this isn’t his fault.

A few other things need to be taken into account. Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has said 1,500 schools have not responded to the government survey on RAAC so more schools may be affected. And we have no idea how many other buildings - care homes, hospitals, factories etc - are also at risk.

And almost every school is caught up in this chaos, not just those that have the offending material on their premises.

With no public list of the schools involved, parents, who should be focusing on prepping uniforms and ensuring children have all the equipment they need, many will have contacted schools to see if any dangers had been identified at their schools. And, teachers, who should be focused on the new term, will have had to field calls and queries and send letters out to clarify they are not affected.

But none of this is the government’s fault and I look forward, as the days go on, hearing them explain further how this is not their fault.