Brits unhappy with PM
Dilapidated schools scandal reaches Sunak
09/05/2023 05:09 am
listen to the article
This audio version was artificially generated. More Info | send feedback
At the beginning of the new school year, the British are concerned with a literal sign of decay: 100 school buildings have to close due to the risk of collapse because cheap concrete was used. Blame is the austerity course of the then finance minister and today’s prime minister. Sunak denies this.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has denied allegations of a scandal over dilapidated UK schools. Sunak has denied allegations that he cut a school rehabilitation program when he was finance minister, despite knowing the risks of faulty concrete used in the construction.
A former senior education ministry official, Jonathan Slater, had accused Sunak on BBC radio of deferring an application for funding to other schools when he was finance minister. The Department of Education should have upgraded up to 400 schools a year, but only had funding for 100, Slater said. In 2021, when Sunak was Finance Minister, there was only money available for 50 schools. Sunak told reporters that Slater was “completely wrong”.
Possibly 1000 schools affected
More than a hundred schools in which the corresponding type of concrete has been installed in the past few decades are now to keep the affected buildings closed. There is a risk of collapse due to the use of concrete. Sunak emphasized that 95 percent of the approximately 22,000 English schools were not affected. According to this calculation, the number of schools affected would be more than 1,000.
The corresponding material was used extensively for the construction of schools and colleges from the 1950s to the 1990s. In 2018, after authorities had identified the potential risk of collapse over time, the ministry alerted schools that action was needed to reduce the danger.
At the end of last month, the British Ministry of Education announced that rooms and buildings in dozens of schools had to be closed due to the risk of collapse. The government pledged financial support to the schools to carry out the most urgent work. However, trade unions and opposition parties, among others, have criticized the government’s handling of the issue. They accused her of acting too late.