Ministers told to ‘come clean with parents’ and publish full list of schools impacted by concrete safety fears
Labour’s shadow education secretary has called for the government to publish a full list of schools being forced to close because of fears over the safety of their buildings.
It comes after the government announced school buildings in England made with a certain type of concrete prone to collapse will be closed immediately.
Around 104 schools or “settings” are set to be disrupted – on top of 52 that have already been affected this year.
However, the government has refused to publicly reveal the facilities, which have buildings constructed with the material Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete – known as RAAC.
It is the same type of concrete that has been found in some hospitals that have been deemed to be unsafe, prompting Health Secretary Steve Barclay to fast-track them into the government’s hospitals-building programme.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson
Labour’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, says the government should publish a full list of impacted facilities and “come clean with parents and set out the full scale of the challenge that we’re facing”.
“They are still not being upfront about it,” she said.
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“They should publish that full list, come clean to parents and make sure that all our children can avoid this kind of disruption.
“They’ve already faced so much lost learning [as a result of COVID], this has to be different.”
‘Could be the tip of the iceberg’
Critics, meanwhile, have warned the problems with RAAC could be even wider than so far outlined, with the Unison union’s head of education, Mike Short, warning the issue could “just be the tip of the iceberg”.
The Department for Education (DfE) have insisted that the vast majority of schools and colleges “will be unaffected” and that the issue is “isolated” to the 156 schools identified as having buildings containing RAAC.
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‘Most parents should not be worried’
The DfE said the majority of the school sites would remain open for face-to-face learning and only specific parts of buildings closed where RAAC is used.
However, the department has said a “minority” will need to “either fully or partially relocate” to alternative accommodation such as nearby schools, community centres or “empty local office buildings” while safety measures are installed.
Schools have also been advised that pandemic-style remote education should only be considered as a “last resort and for a short period”.
According to guidance from the DfE, funding will only be provided for works that are “capital funded” and schools will have to pay for rental costs for emergency or temporary accommodation.
‘Safety-first approach’
“We’re taking a very safety-first approach and we’re really being cautious here,” said Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.
“The first thing we’ll do is we’ll identify where the RAAC is, so some children will be moved to a different part of the building, some of the buildings will be propped up, so the roofs will be propped up, some of them will be having temporary classrooms,” she said.
Ms Keegan urged schools to get in touch with DfE if they were concerned, but added: “If you don’t hear then don’t worry about it – this is something that is isolated to those 156 schools.”
She said “at some point” the department would produce a list of all the schools that had been affected.
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Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, described the news as “shocking”, but added: “Sadly it is not hugely surprising.”
“What we are seeing here are the very real consequences of a decade of swingeing cuts to spending on school buildings,” he said.
“The government is right to put the safety of pupils and staff first – if the safety of buildings cannot be guaranteed, there is no choice but to close them so urgent building work can take place.
“But there is no escaping the fact that the timing of this couldn’t be worse, with children due to return from the summer holidays next week.”
Kevin Bentley, senior vice-chairman of the Local Government Association, said the timing of the announcement meant schools and councils had been left with “very little time to make urgent rearrangements and minimise disruption to classroom learning”.
He called on the government to urgently set up a task force to tackle the issue and to provide councils with further funding and technical expertise to repair or replace buildings with RAAC.
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Some hospitals deemed ‘unsafe’ because of RAAC
The department said the government has been aware of RAAC in public sector buildings since 1994 but the issue came to light in 2018, when a roof collapsed at a Kent school.
That year the DfE published guidance for schools stating the need to have “adequate contingencies” in the event of evacuations caused by concerns over the use of RAAC.
In June this year, the National Audit Office said a school collapse in England that causes death or injury was “very likely” – but that the government did not have sufficient information to manage “critical” risks to the safety of pupils and staff.
Around 24,000 school buildings – more than a third of the total number in England – are beyond their estimated design lifespan – with school leaders branding the scale of building safety issues “shocking”.
Questions were also raised about the state of UK hospitals after Mr Barclay said that five new sites would be added to the government’s programme to build 40 new hospitals because the presence of RAAC made them unsafe to operate “beyond 2030”.
Five new sites – Airedale General in Keighley, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Hinchingbrooke near Huntingdon, Leighton Hospital in Cheshire and Frimley Park in Surrey – were added to the programme as a priority.
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Victims of child sexual exploitation are “not explicitly within the scope” of the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy being drafted by the government, Sky News can reveal.
Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSEA) is a form of child abuse, described by police as a “critical threat” to women and girls.
It includes crimes such as grooming, and can involve both physical contact, such as rape, or non-physical – like forcing children to look at sexual images.
Sky News has been shown an internal Home Office document presented to various stakeholders in the sector.
Screenshot detailing strategy
It’s titled “Scope of the Strategy… Our draft definition of VAWG”, and says that while it recognises “links” between VAWG and child sexual exploitation, it is not “explicitly within the scope of the strategy”.
“VAWG is Violence Against Women and Girls. If you take child sexual abuse out of it, where are the girls?” Poppy Eyre told Sky News.
Poppy was sexually abused and raped by her grandfather when she was four.
It wasn’t until she was 11, after a PHSE lesson on abuse at school, that she understood the enormity of what had happened.
“I remember very vividly when the police came round and told me… this is what we’re charging him with,” said Poppy.
“We’re charging him with sexual abuse and rape. And I remember being like, I had no idea that’s what it was, but I know that’s really bad.”
Poppy Eyre was sexually abused and raped by her grandfather when she was four
Poppy’s grandfather was convicted and died in prison.
She questions how authorities would police crime if child sexual abuse is excluded from an umbrella strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
“Are they holding child sexual abuse at the same level of importance as they are with violence against women? You’d hope so, but potentially not, because it doesn’t need to be in the figures”, she said.
‘Are they holding child sexual abuse at the same level of importance?’ asks Poppy
The government has pledged to halve VAWG within a decade, by 2035.
“If the government are measuring themselves against halving violence against women and girls – if they’re not looking at the scale of child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation within that – that will mean we are failing many young victims of abuse,” said Andrea Simon, director of campaign group End Violence Against Women.
The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which is funded by the Home Office, estimates 500,000 children in England and Wales are sexually abused every year.
‘Danger’ of having separate plan
Rape Crisis told Sky News that “for any strategy to be effective” it “must include all forms of gender-based violence against all women and girls”, suggesting there is a “danger” in having a separate plan for child sexual abuse.
Its chief executive, Ciara Bergman, said it could create a “problematic and potentially very unhelpful” distinction between victims of domestic abuse, expected to be covered by the strategy, and child sexual abuse.
“Some perpetrators of domestic abuse also sexually abuse their children,” she told Sky News.
The government insists the strategy will include action to tackle child sexual abuse, but says it also plans to create a distinctive programme to address its specific crimes.
Poppy’s mother Miranda Eyre says she’s ‘speechless’ and ‘angry’ over the government’s approach
“Sexual abuse is violence against a child,” said Poppy’s mother, Miranda Eyre, who now works as a counsellor specialising in trauma.
“It is violence against girls… and you can’t separate it out,” she said. “I’m speechless to be honest… it does make me quite angry.”
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A Home Office spokesperson told Sky News it is “working tirelessly to tackle the scourges of violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse”.
“These issues are complex and run deep within the fabric of society,” they added.
“The government wholly recognises that they overlap. But it also recognises that concerted action is needed to tackle child sexual abuse which is why we have set out a range of actions… and why we are launching a national inquiry into grooming gangs.”
A British veteran has spoken about how he witnessed Japan’s wartime surrender up close as a 20-year-old sailor.
Reg Draper was off Japan’s coast on the HMS Duke of York when the captain announced the war was ending.
Recalling that moment – 80 years ago today – he said cheers went up from the battleship’s crew.
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Why is it important to mark VJ Day?
Mr Draper saw the Japanese sign the agreement on USS Missouri when he went on board to help his friend, who was the ship’s photographer.
“All the ships mustered in Tokyo Bay with the USS Missouri, which was the American ship, and it was on the Missouri where they signed the peace treaty,” the 100-year-old recalled.
“Then we all came back down to Australia and we went and celebrated – we went down to Tasmania and everybody had four days leave in Hobart.
“Everybody wanted to take us to their home and there were a couple of dances in the dance hall.”
Mr Draper still has a photo showing the peace deal being signed. Pic: Royal British Legion/PA
Mr Draper got a letter recognising his presence at the surrender. Pic: Royal British Legion/PA
Mr Draper, who grew up in Leeds, was a stores assistant on the Duke of York after volunteering on his 18th birthday.
His duties included rationing out the rum so all the sailors could get their 11am hit. He said senior crew got theirs neat while everyone else had theirs watered down.
He also recalled being clattered by Prince Philip after the Queen’s future husband, who was on a destroyer escorting his ship, came aboard.
A view looking out over the HMS Duke of York. Pic: AP
Mr Draper met Prince Philip again in the 70s – but the hockey wasn’t mentioned. Pic: Royal British Legion/PA
“We used to have deck hockey on the quarter deck and it was murder playing deck hockey,” said Mr Draper.
“He [Philip] knocked me over once and then the next time he came round he hit me, there’s still a mark there, he gave me a clout with his hockey stick.
“He came to see me just to see how I was. They just put a stitch in and it was alright.”
The pair met again in 1972 when Mr Draper was training sea cadets for the Duke of Edinburgh awards.
He said Philip noticed his medals and recalled escorting the ship – but didn’t mention the hockey game.
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Mr Draper’s time on the Duke of York included Arctic convoys to deliver supplies to Russia and sailing to Sydney, Australia, in 1945 before joining the East Indies Fleet.
“We started going up to the islands, kicking the Japanese out of the islands as we went,” he recalled.
Japan surrendered after the US dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on 6 and 9 August.
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Mr Draper now lives in Elton in Cheshire. Pic: PA
Mr Draper turned 21 on the trip back to Europe and said 2,000 people were on board as they had picked up prisoners of war.
He went on to become an insurance salesman and said he’s planning to watch today’s 80th anniversary commemorations from his home in Elton, Cheshire.
The King released an audio message in which he said the sacrifices of VJ Day veterans should “never be forgotten”.
He described how the heroic actions of those sent to fight in the Far East, as well as the brutal treatment of civilians, “reminds us that war’s true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life”.
The King will issue a warning that the sacrifices of the VJ Day veterans should “never be forgotten” as they “gave us more than freedom; they left us the example of how it can and must be protected”.
In an audio message, due to be released on Friday morning to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War in the Far East, King Charles will describe how the heroic actions of those sent to fight there and the brutal treatment of civilians “reminds us that war’s true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life”.
In what could be interpreted as him alluding to current world events and conflicts, he will emphasise the importance of international collaboration, saying that victory in 1945 demonstrated that “in times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear but the arms you link”.
Pic: PA
The six-minute audio message to the Nation, Realms and Commonwealth to mark VJ Day, echoes the audio broadcast made by his grandfather, King George VI, which the King will reference.
He recorded it in the Morning Room at Clarence House earlier this month.
Victory over Japan (VJ Day) was declared on 15 August 1945, following Imperial Japan’s surrender to Allied Forces.
With Victory in Europe (VE Day) declared in May 1945, some have felt that historically VJ Day has been overlooked, undervaluing the sacrifices of those who continued to fight on for another three months.
In his message, the King will say that the service and sacrifice of those who fought and died in the Pacific and Far East “shall never be forgotten”.
He will also refer to the experience endured by prisoners of war and to the innocent civilians of occupied lands in the region.
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King Charles and Queen Camilla will also publicly mark the anniversary by attending a national service of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
The service, run in partnership with the Royal British Legion, will be attended by Burma Star recipients, a veteran of the British Indian Army and those involved in the Battles of Kohima and Imphal.
Prisoners of war held across the region and veterans stationed in the UK or Commonwealth countries who contributed to the war effort will also attend. A two-minute national silence will be held at midday.
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