Just four schools have been rebuilt under a government programme which Rishi Sunak said would cover 50 a year.
The figures were confirmed to Sky News as the prime minister continued to face questions over funding for England’s crumbing schools, while the education secretary is being mocked over a graphic that sought to allay fears over the crisis which has led to huge disruption at the start of the new term.
Labour was 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.
The unsafe concrete has forced the full or partial closure of over 100 schools in England this week due to fears it could collapse.
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The government is coming under pressure over its handling of the issue with critics blaming historic underinvestment into school infrastructure.
Sky News has learnt that a “massive” school rebuilding programme launched in 2020 to rebuild 500 schools within a decade has taken off to a slow start.
The plan was for schools to be rebuilt and refurbished at a pace of around 50 a year, but the Department for Education confirmed that just four schools have been completed since the first round of applications was launched in 2021.
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Officials insist the programme is on track, and that they are still confident of “ramping up” to an average of 50 per year.
A report by the National Audit Office, which scrutinises government spending, in June warned that there were concerns about the schools programme.
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What is the concrete crisis?
They said by March of this year the department had awarded just 24 contracts against a forecast of 83, due to “instability in the construction sector and inflationary risks”.
But a Downing Street spokesperson said while just four had been solely rebuilt, refurbishments were underway in many other schools.
And a spokesperson for the DfE said: “We have committed to rebuilding 500 schools under the Schools Rebuilding programme between 2020 and 2030 and are on track to deliver that commitment.
“Awarding contracts and establishing projects takes time but we have made rapid progress and are exceeding delivery timescales compared to the previous Priority School Building Programme, while delivering schools that will be net zero in operation. The Infrastructure and Project Authority has also highlighted the strength of the SRP’s progress.”
Sunak ‘gave less funding than requested’ for crumbling schools
Image: Damage inside Parks Primary School in Leicester which has been affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC)
It came as schools minister Nick Gibb admitted that his department had bid for 200 schools a year to be rebuilt, in a case made to the Treasury two years ago.
But Mr Sunak, who was chancellor at the time, approved just 50 – despite the senior civil servant in the department, Jonathan Slater, warning of a “critical risk to life”.
Mr Gibb sought to defend the prime minister, telling Sky News it was “simply not true” to say he oversaw budget cuts and that 50 a year was in line with previous austerity years.
He said: “We put in a bid for 200, but what Rishi agreed to was to continue the rebuilding programme with 50 a year, consistent with what we’d been doing since we came into office.
“We put in a bid for 200, but of course, the Treasury then has to compare that with all the other priorities from right across Whitehall, from the health service, defence, and so on.”
He told Sky News: “You’ve got the schools minister to admit that they asked for more investment to fix schools and Rishi Sunak’s cut it back, so the buck stops with him. Schools have had to close and roofs are being held up with steel girders.”
He said one of the first things he did as chancellor was to announce the rebuilding programme, under which he said “about 50 schools a year… will be refurbished or rebuilt”.
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Education Sec watches the moment she was caught on camera swearing
However, criticism of the government’s strategy has continued after Ms Keegan was caught on camera bemoaning a lack of thanks for doing a “f***ing good job” and claiming others had “been sat on their arses”.
She apologised and went on to admit to being on holiday in Spain in the run-up to ordering more than 100 schools and colleges in England to make complete or partial closures.
Ministers have said that hundreds more schools may be impacted by RAAC – which was widely used in buildings from the 1950s to the mid-1990s.
There have been warnings about the material for many years, but the government said “new evidence” emerged over the summer about the dangers it poses – prompting them to order schools to close areas where it is present.
United States Senator Cynthia Lummis suggests the crypto industry may be celebrating too soon over the US Federal Reserve softening its crypto guidance for banks.
“The Fed withdrawing crypto guidance is just noise, not real progress,” Lummis said in an April 25 X post. Lummis called the Fed’s April 24 announcement — withdrawing its 2022 supervisory letter that had discouraged banks from engaging with crypto and stablecoin activities — “just lip service.”
Lummis’ tone was different from the rest of the crypto industry
Lummis, a pro-crypto advocate known for introducing the Bitcoin (BTC) Strategic Reserve Bill in July 2024, pointed out several flaws in the Fed’s announcement, even as Strategy founder Michael Saylor and crypto entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano suggested it was a step forward for banks and crypto.
She argued that the Fed continues to “illegally flout the law on master accounts” and still relies on reputational risk in its bank supervision practices. It comes as the Federal Insurance Deposit Corporation (FDIC) is working on a rule to stop examiners from considering reputational risk when reviewing a bank’s operations, according to a recent Bloomberg report.
Lummis also highlighted the Fed’s policy statement in Section 9(13), which hasn’t been withdrawn, stating that Bitcoin and digital assets are considered “unsafe and unsound.”
She also reiterated many of the same staff behind Operation Chokepoint 2.0 are still involved in crypto policy today.
“We are NOT fooled. The Fed assassinated companies within the industry and hurt American interests by stifling innovation and shuttering businesses. This fight is far from over.”
“I will continue to hold the Fed accountable until the digital asset industry gets more than a life jacket, Chair Powell — they need a fair shake,” Lummis said.
However, many crypto executives praised the Fed’s announcement as a positive development for the industry. Saylor said in an April 25 X post that the Fed’s move means that “banks are now free to begin supporting Bitcoin.”
Anastasija Plotnikova, co-founder and CEO of blockchain regulatory firm Fideum, said the Fed’s decision “is a significant development, as it will simplify the path to institutional adoption.”
In one of his first appearances as the recently sworn-in chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul Atkins delivered remarks to the agency’s third roundtable discussion of crypto regulation.
In the “Know Your Custodian” roundtable event on April 25, Atkins said he expected “huge benefits” from blockchain technology through efficiency, risk mitigation, transparency, and cutting costs. He reiterated that among his goals at the SEC would be to facilitate “clear regulatory rules of the road” for digital assets, hinting that the agency under former chair Gary Gensler had contributed to market and regulatory uncertainty.
“I look forward to engaging with market participants and working with colleagues in President Trump’s administration and Congress to establish a rational fit-for-purpose framework for crypto assets,” said Atkins.
SEC chair Paul Atkins addressing the April 25 crypto roundtable. Source: SEC
Some critics of US President Donald Trump see Atkins’ nomination to lead the SEC as a nod to the crypto industry, acting on campaign promises to remove Gensler — the former chair resigned the day Trump took office — and cut back on regulation. Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee questioned Atkins on his ties to the industry, potentially presenting conflicts of interest in his role regulating crypto.
“We’ve noticed that we don’t have to be as concerned […] about being accused of things that we’re not doing, like being broker-dealers for securities,” Exodus chief legal officer Veronica McGregor, who participated in the roundtable, told Cointelegraph on April 24.”It’s just a less scary regulatory environment in general. It is, however, still unclear what the ultimate regs are going to look like for crypto.”
The SEC crypto task force is scheduled to hold two more roundtables in May and June to discuss tokenization and decentralized finance, respectively. Commissioner Hester Peirce, who leads the task force, told Cointelegraph in March that she welcomed the opportunity to work with Atkins to “reorient the agency,” hinting at an SEC with regulations more favorable to the crypto industry.
In addition to the roundtables, the crypto task force has reported several meetings with digital asset firms to discuss various policies and considerations in developing a regulatory framework.
Nasdaq has urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to hold digital assets to the same regulatory standards as securities if they constitute “stocks by any other name,” according to an April 25 comment letter.
The exchange said the US financial regulator needs to establish a clearer taxonomy for cryptocurrencies, including categorizing a portion of digital assets as “financial securities.” Those tokens, Nasdaq argued, should continue to be regulated “as they are regulated today regardless of tokenized form.”
“Whether it takes the form of a paper share, a digital share, or a token, an instrument’s underlying nature remains the same and it should be traded and regulated in the same ways,” the letter said.
It also proposed categorizing a portion of cryptocurrencies as “digital asset investment contracts,” to be subject to “light touch regulation” but still overseen by the SEC.
Nasdaq’s April 25 letter to the SEC. Source: Nasdaq
The SEC has dramatically pivoted its stance on cryptocurrency oversight since US President Donald Trump took office in January.
Under the leadership of former Chair Gary Gensler, the SEC took the position that practically all cryptocurrencies, with the exception of Bitcoin (BTC), represent investment contracts and therefore qualify as securities.
This stance led the agency to bring upwards of 100 lawsuits against crypto firms for alleged securities law violations.
However, under Trump nominee Paul Atkins, who was sworn in as chair on April 21 after a lengthy Senate confirmation, the SEC has claimed jurisdiction over a narrower segment of cryptocurrencies.
In February, the agency issued guidance stating that memecoins — if clearly identified as purely speculative assets with no intrinsic value — do not qualify as investment contracts pursuant to US law.
In April, the SEC said that stablecoins — digital tokens pegged to the US dollar — similarly do not qualify as securities if they are marketed solely as a means of making payments.
In its April 21 letter, Nasdaq said existing financial infrastructure “can readily absorb digital assets by establishing the proper taxonomy and calibrating certain rules to reflect what is truly new and novel about digital assets.”
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) — a private US securities clearinghouse closely overseen by the SEC — has been laying the foundation for integrating blockchain technology into regulated financial markets.