Concrete crisis will be resolved ‘far sooner than Christmas’

The crumbling concrete crisis will be resolved “far sooner than Christmas”, the schools minister said this morning. 

Nick Gibb said he expected affected schools to be made safe or for alternative accommodation to be found quickly, with lessons only likely to be disrupted for a handful of days. 

Asked if the overall situation would be wrapped up by the end of this school term, Mr Gibb told LBC Radio: “What we are doing is sending a case worker for every school where we know there is Raac. They are working right now with those schools. 

“We know that the 52 schools that we have already sent in and work is happening during this year that children were only out of school for an average of six days. 

“So alternative accommodation has been found, mitigation, propping, whatever it is, has all happened in those 52 schools. I expect the same thing to happen in the remaining 104 schools where we are now being more cautious in Raac that was identified as not critical. And I suspect that will be all sorted out far sooner than Christmas.” 

Some 156 schools have been identified so far as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac). Mr Gibb said he expected that number to rise as more schools respond to a Government questionnaire on the issue. 

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