Content

Following
the approval of an amendment moved by the Labour Group in relation
to the original motion submitted, the following motion (as amended)
was AGREED as the outcome of the non-cabinet member
debate:
 
“Provision of support to
deal with cases of RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated
Concrete) in Brent Schools

 

This Council
notes:

 
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated
Concrete (RAAC) is a lightweight form of
concrete pioneered in Sweden whose use swept across Europe
particularly in schools, colleges, and other building construction
from the 1950’s until the mid-1990s.  Used in flat roofing, floors, and walls
it offered a cheaper alternative to
standard concrete, but its short lifespan means its use in
permanent buildings has caused problems. The Secretary of State
for Education has clarified, out of 22,500 schools in England, 156
have been confirmed to have RAAC and 52 of these have already got
mitigations in place and are dealing with
repairs.
 
To date, it has been
identified that
onlyone Brent school, although not maintained by the Council, has
RAAC.  St.
Gregory’s Catholic Science College discovered it had RAAC in its
Maths block in November 2022. Safety measures were introduced, and
work was
completed by Tuesday 12th September.  The Council was
informed by the school’s CEO/Headteacher in January 2023 of
the discovery of RAAC. 
There is no
current financial impact to the Council as the school
affected is operated by an academy trust, therefore the local authority is not the responsible
body.
 
Upon notification in
January 2023, DfE have supported the school in arranging surveys
and discussing the management of RAAC. Since the summer, a
dedicated case officer has been assigned to the school from the DfE
to manage the next steps of removing RAAC from the school
with all
costs to be reimbursed by the DfE as it rightfully
should.
 
When Brent residents
apply for rear building extensions, building control officers
demand high quality materials be used. If this RAAC was known to
have a recommended 30-year lifespan there must be question as to
why it was approved in long term school and civic developments and
what reviews were put in place by Building Control to undertake
regular checks on its safety?
 
Parents, teachers and pupils across the country have been
rightly concerned aboutthe news of
RAAC and this has been reflected in how it
has been
reported.  The Secretary of State for
Education Gillian Keegan MP is the tenth Conservative Secretary
of State for Education since 2010 and showed no sympathy for
parents’ concerns across the UK in her highly unprofessional
behaviour when she was being interviewed by ITV
news.
 
As a
result, this Council recognises:
 

·            
That the
Conservative Government
in the 1980s colluded in
neglecting capital and infrastructure investment
despite insatiable public demand
for increased revenue spending on vital public
services. This has been worsened by
the effects of Austerity which decimated the country’s public
services and de-funded buildings provided for our nation’s
schoolchildren. People a century ago were
truly building schools for the future; today’s squabbles are
much more about ‘Patching Schools for the Present’. The
uncomfortable truth is that this really, if anything, has been a
pass-the-parcel problem made worse by the current
Conservative Government, putting at risk school children and
staff.
 

·            
It was a Labour
Government that launched the Building Schools for the Future
Programme, which was the biggest school building programme since
the Victorian times allocating £55billion to rebuild every
secondary school in the country. In the first months of the
Conservative-led Coalition Government in 2010, then Secretary of
State for Education Michael Gove scrapped the scheme and offered no
replacement. Gove has later called the cancellation of this
programme his biggest mistake in office.
 

·            
Covid has taught us so many
things and lead us to deal with issues that we thought would
never be achieved. We will also deal with this
and learn the
valuable lesson of investing in our public services to ensure good
practice and safety for all of our
residents.
 

·            
Whilst global events continue,
there is also a need to recognise that the safety of our children
comes first. The issue of RAAC has been missed for over 30
years. 
In 2002
the Labour government first became aware
of the deterioration and risks of RAAC via a BRE (Building Research
Establishment) report.  In 2018
Conservative Minister Damian Hinds ordered an urgent and
comprehensive review of RAAC in all schools. It is because of these
inspections that we know the extent of the current risks.
Senior officials at the Department of
Education told the treasury while Rishi Sunak was Chancellor at the
time that there was a need to rebuild 300 to 400 schools a year in
England, Sunak only allowed funding for 100 schools which was then
halved to 50.
 
This Council therefore
resolves:
 

·            
To request
the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools writes to
the Secretary of State for Education to call for urgent additional
funding to be secured for buildings affected by RAAC in Brent and
across the UK, and for her to outline what measures the Government
is doing to ensure the safety of our
schoolchildren.

 

·            
To pledge to support in any way we
can St Gregory’s Catholic Science College, which is
the only Brent school currently affected with RAAC while also
noting that there are limitations to how we as a Council can assist
as the school is operated by an Academy and we pledge to support,
guide and advise any
schools which
may become known in future.

 

·            
To recognise that
school
requests for planning permission and other compliance issues from
the council should be dealt with expeditiously
while
following the planning and safety legislation that underpins all
planning decisions.
 

·            
To work cross
party to expedite planning permissions where required for the
temporary classrooms and Portacabins schools may require and should
they go down this route, to house the classrooms on site or
alternatively assist in finding suitable accommodation across the
borough.  For example, when schools ask for planning
permission there should be no complacency in recognising any
defects and dealing with them quickly.
 

·            
To communicate with the affected
schools should they need help with contractors for remedial
works.
 

·            
In the case of schools which are
affected by RAAC but are not the council’s responsibility, if the schools are short of funds to
remedy the defects the Council to call on the Government to provide
the necessary funding and not rely on already stretched Local
Government budgets.
 

·            
To continue closely
monitoring through building control functions all schools for cases
of unsafe materials.”
 
Eligible for Call-In:
No