More schools and other public buildings with structural problems could come to light, Jeremy Hunt says

Published

2 years ago

September 3, 2023

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The chancellor has admitted more schools and other public buildings with structural problems could come to light in the coming weeks.

It comes as the government investigates the extent of problems with crumbling concrete, also known as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

RAAC is a type of concrete that has also been used in public buildings, such as hospitals and court buildings.

More than 100 schools and colleges have been told by the Department for Education (DfE) to partially or fully shut buildings – just days before the start of the new school year – over fears about the safety of facilities built with RAAC.

The government has so far identified 156 schools that contain RAAC – with 104 schools or “settings” told to close or partially close, on top of another 50 where mitigations have already been put in place.

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However, speaking to Sky News’ new politics show Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips Jeremy Hunt admitted that more schools and other public buildings with structural problems could come to light as the government carries out its “exhaustive” programme into the problem.

“Obviously we might find new information in the weeks or months ahead and we will act on it, but in terms of the information we have today we have acted immediately, we will continue to act we will continue to invest,” he said.

The announcement by the DfE that some schools may be forced to close prompted anger from parents and opposition parties, with Labour accusing the government of “staggering incompetence”.

But Mr Hunt defended the government’s response to the issue, saying it would “take action immediately” on any risks – which also include concerns of possible asbestos outbreaks in public buildings.

“As soon as problems have been identified we’ve started a huge survey of every single school in the country so we could identify where these problems are,” he said.

“And I think it’s very important to reassure parents that where there is an issue as soon as we find out about it we will act.”

He added that the government would do “what it takes to make sure that children are safe” and that as chancellor he would “prioritise spending money to sort out these problems where that needs to happen”.

Elsewhere in the programme, Mr Hunt was asked about the state of the British economy after he welcomed figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which showed that the UK’s economy was 0.6% larger than pre-pandemic levels by the fourth quarter of 2021 and had the third-fastest recovery in the G7 during that period – behind only the US and Canada.

He told Trevor Phillips:

• That despite the economy performing better than expected, he would not have taken a different approach because it was the government’s “priority” to bring down inflation – which peaked at over 11%

• His plan to reform the public sector does not involve “more cuts” and that the government will prioritise reducing debt over increasing borrowing by making public services more efficient and cutting the amount of time frontline staff spend on administrative tasks

• The government believes it is “morally wrong” to leave substantial debt to future generations – as he attacked Labour’s plans to increase borrowing by £100bn”.

Schools impacted by the RAAC crisis have been advised by the government to find space in nearby schools, community centres or even “empty local office buildings”.

Ministers have said such spaces should be utilised for the “first few weeks” while structural supports are installed to mitigate the risk of collapse of structures built with RAAC.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb has pledged to publish the list in “in due course”, while it is understood a full list will only be released by the DfE when all parents are informed and mitigations are in place.

The crisis has prompted Labour to ramp up its calls for the government to reveal the “full extent” of the impact of RAAC, including by publicly listing the schools which have had to close or partially shut.

Also speaking to Trevor Phillips, Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said her party wanted to force a vote to get the government to release the full list of the schools affected.

“Children are going to have to move to alternative accommodation or portable cabins with steel props holding up the ceiling,” she said.

“I don’t think there can be a more defining metaphor for the last 13 years of Conservative government than children sat in classrooms with steel props to stop the ceiling falling in on their heads.”

Politics

Crypto’s growing footprint: UK regulator sounds alarm over stablecoin risks

Published

3 hours ago

April 10, 2025

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Crypto’s growing footprint: UK regulator sounds alarm over stablecoin risks

United Kingdom regulators are increasingly concerned about the impact of stablecoins and the broader crypto industry on the country’s financial system and monetary stability.

During Financial Policy Committee meetings held on April 4 and 8, regulators noted that while the current “interconnectedness of unbacked crypto asset markets with the real economy and financial sector is growing but remains relatively limited,” stablecoins and crypto markets have expanded significantly in the past year, drawing heightened regulatory attention.

The UK, its central bank and its local regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, have been developing frameworks for stablecoins to ensure financial resilience. The committee claims to have determined the factors that make a stablecoin resilient:

“A key determinant of the resilience of stablecoins was the liquidity, credit and market risks of their backing assets, which were in place to ensure that redemptions can be met in a timely manner at par, even in periods of stress.“

The committee raised alarm over the “greater issuance of sterling offshore stablecoins with inappropriate backing assets.” This has implications for UK financial markets and “even with appropriate regulation, greater use of stablecoins denominated in foreign currencies could make some economies vulnerable to currency substitution,” the committee said.

Cryptocurrencies, United Kingdom, Stablecoin — *Bank of England. Source:* *Wikimedia*

Currency substitution risks spark concern

Committee members are worried that if stablecoin use were to move beyond crypto settlements, it could result in “implications for retail and wholesale cross-border payments.” In retail flows, stablecoin use by households and small and medium-sized enterprises could, for cross-border payments, “result in currency substitution,” increasing counterparty risk.

The statement followed reports about growing stablecoin adoption not limited to crypto remittances in emerging markets, especially in Africa. A recent report from Chainalysis found that stablecoins now make up nearly half of all transaction volume in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Similarly, a late 2024 report suggested that a number of emerging economies across Africa have the potential to become digital asset hubs. Ben Caselin, chief marketing officer of Johannesburg-based crypto exchange VALR, told Cointelegraph at the time:

“South Africa is the entryway to the rest of Africa with a good rule of law and independent judiciary. It’s easy to open a company in South Africa.”

Still, reports of similar trends in developed economies with easily accessible financial infrastructure are scarce. Experts often point to the unavailability of banking services and unstable local fiat currencies as the reason why developing countries — from Africa in particular — are eager to adopt dollar-based stablecoins and crypto.

UK is not alone in worrying

The United Kingdom is in good company in worrying about the impact of stablecoins and the broader crypto industry on monetary stability. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recently warned that crypto will increasingly threaten traditional financial markets’ stability as the industry grows and becomes more entwined with conventional finance players. ESMA’s executive director, Natasha Cazenave said:

“We cannot rule out that future sharp drops in crypto prices could have knock-on effects on our financial system.”

Local regulators are already acting on those concerns. In late March, the European Union’s insurance authority proposed a blanket rule that would mandate insurance firms to maintain capital equal to the value of their crypto holdings as part of a measure to mitigate risks for policyholders.

Magazine: Ridiculous ‘Chinese Mint’ crypto scam, Japan dives into stablecoins: Asia Express

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Home secretary denies ‘watering down’ grooming gangs response following backlash

Published

8 hours ago

April 10, 2025

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Home secretary denies 'watering down' grooming gangs response following backlash

The home secretary has denied the government is watering down its response to child grooming gangs after it was accused of dropping plans for local inquiries.

Yvette Cooper announced at the beginning of the year that “victim-centred, locally-led inquiries” would take place in five areas after the issue caught the attention of tech billionaire Elon Musk.

But this week, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips did not provide an update on the reviews and instead said local authorities would be able to access a £5m fund to support any work they wanted to carry out.

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Her statement led to accusations that the government was diluting the importance of the local inquiries by giving councils the choice over how to spend the money.

Asked by Anna Jones on Sky News whether the government was “watering down” its response, Ms Cooper said: “No, completely the opposite.

“What we’re doing is increasing the action we’re taking on this vile crime.”

The home secretary pointed to the rapid audit that is being carried out by Baroness Louise Casey, which will bring together the data gathered so far on grooming gangs and consider the lessons that should be learned at a national level.

She added: “Most important of all, what we’re doing is we’re increasing the police investigations, because these are dangerous perpetrators and again, they should be behind bars.”

Demands for a national inquiry into the scandal – in which girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across a number of towns and cities in England over a decade ago – grew louder this year after Mr Musk accused Labour of failing to act on the issue on his social media platform X.

The government refused to hold a national inquiry, citing the work carried out by Professor Alexis Jay, who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse that looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014.

However, it did commit to holding local inquiries in five areas backed by £5m in funding and advised by Tom Crowther KC.

‘Political mess’

But ministers are facing a backlash following Ms Phillips’ statement in the Commons on Tuesday – made an hour before parliament rose for Easter recess – in which she said the government would take a “flexible approach” by allowing five councils to launch victims’ panels or locally led audits.

Labour MPs angry with government decision grooming gangs

Mhari Aurora

Political correspondent

@MhariAurora

With about an hour until the House of Commons rose for Easter recess, the government announced it was taking a more “flexible” approach to the local grooming gang inquiries.

Safeguarding minister Jess Philips argued this was based on experience from certain affected areas, and that the government is funding new police investigations to re-open historic cases.

Sky News presenter and former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Philips called the move “utterly shameful” and claimed it was a political decision.

One Labour MP told Sky News: “Some people are very angry. I despair. I don’t disagree with many of our decisions but we just play to Reform – someone somewhere needs sacking.”

The government insists party political misinformation is fanning the flames of frustration in Labour, and that they not watering down the inquiries – on the contrary, they say are increasing the action being taken – , but while many Labour MPs have one eye on Reform in the rearview mirror, any accusations of being soft on grooming gangs only provides political ammunition to their adversaries.

One Labour MP told Sky News the issue had turned into a “political mess” and that they were being called “grooming sympathisers”.

On the update from Ms Phillips on Tuesday, they said it might have been the “right thing to do” but that it was “horrible politically”.

“We are all getting so much abuse. It’s just political naivety in the extreme.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said yesterday that she was “absolutely astonished that Labour has dropped what it said it would do in January”.

“They are clearly uncomfortable with having inquiries that are looking into this issue,”she said.

“They said that they’ll have a pot of money for councils to bid in, but why would a council bid for money to investigate itself?

“We need something that is national. We need a statutory inquiry so we can compel witnesses, and I’m going to make sure that we force another vote.”

‘We will leave no stone unturned’

Ms Phillips later defended her decision, saying there was “far too much party political misinformation about the action that is being taken when everyone should be trying to support victims and survivors”.

“We are funding new police investigations to re-open historic cases, providing national support for locally led inquiries and action, and Louise Casey… is currently reviewing the nature, scale and ethnicity of grooming gangs offending across the country.

“We will not hesitate to go further, unlike the previous government, who showed no interest in this issue over 14 years and did nothing to progress the recommendations from the seven year national inquiry when they had the chance.

“We will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of justice for victims and will be unrelenting in our crackdown on sick predators and perpetrators who prey on vulnerable children.”

Politics

OpenSea urges SEC to exclude NFT marketplaces from regulator’s remit

Published

8 hours ago

April 10, 2025

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OpenSea urges SEC to exclude NFT marketplaces from regulator’s remit

Non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea has urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude NFT marketplaces from regulation under federal securities laws.

The SEC needs to “clearly state that NFT marketplaces like OpenSea do not qualify as exchanges under federal securities laws,” OpenSea general counsel Adele Faure and deputy general counsel Laura Brookover said in an April 9 letter to Commissioner Hester Peirce, who leads the agency’s Crypto Task Force.

Faure and Brookover argued that NFT marketplaces don’t meet the legal definition of an exchange under US securities laws as they don’t execute transactions, act as intermediaries or bring together multiple sellers for the same asset.

“The Commission’s past enforcement agenda has created uncertainty. We therefore urge the Commission to remove this uncertainty and protect the ability of US technology companies to lead in this space,” Faure and Brookover wrote.

Marketplace, SEC, United States, OpenSea — *OpenSea’s legal team has asked the SEC to issue informal guidance on NFT Marketplaces. Source:* *SEC*

“In preparing this guidance, the Crypto Task Force should specifically address the application of exchange regulations to marketplaces for non-fungible assets, similar to the recent staff statements on memecoins and stablecoins,” Faure and Brookover added.

Under a notice published on April 4, the SEC said stablecoins that meet specific criteria are considered “non-securities” and are exempt from transaction reporting requirements.

Meanwhile, the SEC’s division of corporation finance said in a Feb. 27 staff statement that memecoins are not securities under the federal securities laws but are more akin to collectibles.

NFT marketplaces don’t fit broker definition, says OpenSea

Faure and Brookover argued the Crypto Task Force should also exempt NFT marketplaces like OpenSea from having to register as a broker, arguing they don’t give investment advice, execute transactions, or custody customer assets.

“We ask the SEC to clear the existing industry confusion on this issue by publishing informal guidance. In the longer term, we invite the Commission to exempt NFT marketplaces like OpenSea from proposed broker regulation,” they said.

Under the Trump administration, the SEC has slowly been walking back its hardline stance toward crypto forged under former Chair Gary Gensler.

The regulator has dismissed a number of enforcement actions it previously launched against crypto firms and has dropped probes into crypto companies over alleged securities law violations, including one into OpenSea.

Magazine: Trump-Biden bet led to obsession with ‘idiotic’ NFTs —Batsoupyum, NFT Collector