Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Accepted
DfE lacks proactive funding commitments or eradication targets for RAAC in schools.
Conclusion
DHSC is providing £685 million of funding, to the end of 2025, to mitigate RAAC in hospitals. It has also committed to eradicating RAAC across the NHS estate by 2035.21 DfE has not proactively set out funding commitments or eradication targets, and instead explained that its priorities are to identify RAAC, move children out from under it, and then mitigate it.22 Schools’ uncertainty about the temporary support available to deal with RAAC
Government Response Summary
The government states that it has committed to permanently remove RAAC from the school estate and confirmed how it will fund schools for this on 8 February 2024, through grants or the School Rebuilding Programme. This directly addresses the committee's observation that DfE had not proactively set out funding commitments.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.6 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.7 There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England and the vast majority are unaffected by RAAC. 2.8 All responsible bodies for schools and colleges with blocks built in the target era have submitted responses to the questionnaire. The Department for Education’s RAAC identification programme is complete, and the questionnaire has closed. A final list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC in England was published on 8 February 2024. Any school or college that advised us they suspect they might have RAAC has had a survey to confirm if RAAC is present. Other than the 234 education settings, the surveys found no evidence of RAAC. A small number of schools and colleges are carrying out additional checks for further assurance in some spaces. The department is working with responsible bodies to support them to complete these additional checks as quickly as possible. As these final checks are completed, the department expects the number of further cases to be very low. This has been the case over the last two months, where only three cases have been identified. 2.9 No pupils in England are learning in buildings with confirmed RAAC, unless those buildings have had measures implemented to make them safe. 2.10 The government has committed to remove RAAC from the school and college estate for good. The department is funding the removal of RAAC present in school and colleges either through grants, or through the School Rebuilding Programme. The longer-term requirements of each school or college will vary depending on the extent of the issue and nature and design of the buildings. Permanently removing RAAC may involve refurbishment of existing buildings or rebuilding affected buildings. 2.11 On 8 February 2024 the department confirmed to schools and colleges how it will fund them to remove RAAC permanently. 119 schools are being included within the School Rebuilding Programme where works to remove RAAC are more extensive or complex. 110 schools and colleges will receive grant funding where works will typically be smaller in scale. Five schools and colleges have alternative arrangements in place, for example, the building will not be part of the school or college estate over the longer term.