‘Outrageous’ education secretary tells school chiefs to ‘get off their backsides’ and fill out concrete survey
The education secretary is facing fresh criticism after saying school chiefs who have not responded to a survey should “get off their backsides” and inform ministers whether they are affected by crumbling concrete.
Gillian Keegan has been accused of a “second display of petulance” over the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) crisis, after she railed against people “sat on their arses” in a sweary outburst on Monday.
Ms Keegan initially insisted her comments were aimed at “nobody in particular” and she was annoyed at the interviewer who was “making out it was all my fault”.
Politics latest: Keegan mocked over social media post
She has now shed further light on the root of her anger, telling Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday: “The annoying bit, and this was probably a bit of my frustration yesterday, is despite asking since March 2020, there’s 5% of schools or responsible bodies that have not responded to the survey.”
She added: “Hopefully all this publicity will make them get off their backsides.
“But what I would like them to do is to respond because I want to be the secretary of state that knows exactly in every school where there is RAAC and takes action.
“We’ve written to them quite a few times and we’ve also set up a call centre to phone them up to ask them to do it and they still haven’t.
“So we have written to them yesterday and given them ’til the end of the week.”
Union leaders branded Ms Keegan’s latest comments “outrageous” and accused the government of trying to shift the blame from its own failings.
Safety concerns about collapse-prone RAAC have forced the full or part closure of more than 100 schools in England.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Education Sec watches the moment she was caught on camera swearing
Headteachers have been scrambling to find temporary teaching spaces ahead of the new academic year, while others have been forced to replace face-to-face lessons with remote learning.
Ministers have come under fire over the timing of the announcement, with critics claiming they failed to heed previous warnings and invest in school buildings.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “This is the education secretary’s second display of petulance in consecutive days – albeit on this occasion without the swear words attached – and isn’t very helpful.
“Schools have been expected to identify RAAC even though this is a specialist field and are unlikely to have staff who are experts in this area.
“They have received minimal help from the Department for Education which will have known which schools have not returned surveys for several months and which has had ample time to reach out to them.
“The education secretary would do better to provide support, rather than blame.”
Read more:
Infamous ‘hot mic’ moments after Keegan’s gaffe
Why teen left ‘hellhole’ school to learn online
‘Desperate attempt to deflect’
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “Any attempt to start shifting the blame onto individual schools will be seen by parents and public for what it is: a desperate attempt by government to deflect from its own significant failings.
“The facts are clear: the current crumbling school estate is the direct result of ministerial decisions to slash capital budgets.
“Furthermore, the government has known about the risks associated with RAAC for many years but has only recently sent out these surveys to responsible bodies.
“The fact that we now have classroom ceilings held up by metal poles and classrooms put out of use completely is a reflection of the neglect and cuts we have been warning about for years.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), added: “It is outrageous of the education secretary to lay any responsibility for the RAAC crisis at the door of schools.
“The fact is that the Department for Education has dragged its heels over many years on this issue.”
Keegan mocked over concrete post
Ms Keegan apologised for her comments yesterday, in which she also complained that no one had thanked her department for doing a “f****** good job”.
She went on to admit to being on holiday in Spain in the run-up to ordering the 104 schools and colleges to make closures.
Then on Tuesday morning, she was mocked for tweeting a graphic claiming most schools are “unaffected” by RAAC, with Labour quick to post a spoof saying “most beachgoers not eaten by big shark”, in reference to the stance of the mayor in the movie Jaws.
It came on a day of many developments, with a minister admitting Rishi Sunak rejected a funding request to fix more crumbling schools when he was chancellor.
The election of a pro-crypto President in the United States and growing macroeconomic turmoil will continue to drive investors to Bitcoin.
Politics
Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions ‘all day long’ as farmers slam ‘disrespectful’ PM
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% applied to other land and property.
The announcement has sparked anger among farmers who argue this will mean higher food prices, lower food production and having to sell off land to pay for the tax.
Sir Keir defended the budget as he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales, where farmers have been holding a tractor protest outside.
Sir Keir admitted: “We’ve taken some extremely tough decisions on tax.”
He said: “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. I will defend the tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy.
“And I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy, and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales. Finally, turning the page on austerity once and for all.”
He also said the budget allocation for Wales was a “record figure” – some £21bn for next year – an extra £1.7bn through the Barnett Formula, as he hailed a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.
And he confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going live in 2025.
‘PM should have addressed the protesters’
Among the hundreds of farmers demonstrating was Gareth Wyn Jones, who told Sky News it was “disrespectful” that the prime minister did not mention farmers in his speech.
He said “so many people have come here to air their frustrations. He (Starmer) had an opportunity to address the crowd. Even if he was booed he should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people”.
He said farmers planned to deliver Sir Keir a letter which begins with “‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Farmers’ tractor protest outside the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.
“They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”
On Friday, Sir Keir addressed farmers’ concerns, saying: “I know some farmers are anxious about the inheritance tax rules that we brought in two weeks ago.
“What I would say about that is, once you add the £1m for the farmland to the £1m that is exempt for your spouse, for most couples with a farm wanting to hand on to their children, it’s £3m before anybody pays a penny in inheritance tax.”
Read more:
Ex-Labour adviser suggests doing to farms ‘what Thatcher did to coal mines’
Farmers ‘could block ports and disrupt food supply’
Welsh farmer Gareth Wyn Jones
Ministers said the move will not affect small farms and is aimed at targeting wealthy landowners who buy up farmland to avoid paying inheritance tax.
But analysis this week said a typical family farm would have to put 159% of annual profits into paying the new inheritance tax every year for a decade and could have to sell 20% of their land.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The Country and Land Business Association (CLA), which represents owners of rural land, property and businesses in England and Wales, found a typical 200-acre farm owned by one person with an expected profit of £27,300 would face a £435,000 inheritance tax bill.
The plan says families can spread the inheritance tax payments over 10 years, but the CLA found this would require an average farm to allocate 159% of its profits each year for a decade.
To pay that, successors could be forced to sell 20% of their land, the analysis found.
Trump’s administration could push DeFi from niche to mainstream, with crypto advocates eyeing potential pro-crypto policy shifts.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports7 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway