Contributions
962 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDSafety of School BuildingsI am confident that, because we started early, we have done a lot of these surveys already. Quite a lot of the schools were involved at the beginning, so I am confident of that. I…06 Sept 2023HANSARDSafety of School BuildingsI should make a bit of progress, because I do have an awful lot of this in the speech. I really do want to satisfy people with detailed information because I have a lot of it.…06 Sept 2023HANSARDSafety of School BuildingsPerhaps I could make a little more progress, as I feel I will not have been fair if I don’t. We currently have a further 100 places on the programme, and the Government will…06 Sept 2023HANSARDSafety of School BuildingsI am sorry. Unlike the hon. Gentleman’s Government when they were in power, we actually did a conditions survey. We have done two conditions surveys and we have done a full RAAC…06 Sept 2023HANSARDSafety of School BuildingsI will look at Leeds specifically, but we have awarded millions to Leeds. The biggest difference between our programme and any programme that was ever done by your Government when…06 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsAs I have mentioned, we have written to officials in Northern Ireland and offered to have meetings to pass on information and best practice and to work with them closely.04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsOf course, for parents and for children this was very difficult. I have said that if I could have done it any other way, I would have done so. But faced with the information I…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsI will look at the hon. Lady’s free special school, but we announced seven new free special schools in the summer holidays. This is very much part of our building of more places…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsI do sympathise with the hon. Lady. The PFI deals that were put in place all over the country, and which still blight the public sector today, are a hangover legacy of the last…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsAbsolutely not, and I would just like to point out to the hon. Gentleman that the Priority School Building programme schools were one third cheaper per square metre than those…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsWe have got the contracts for the portacabins. In a few days, we have actually stood up a helpline system and a caseworker system. I think the schools, working with the…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsI thank the right hon. Gentleman, but just so that he is aware, and actually so that all Members are aware, this was announced on Thursday and today is Monday. In that time, we…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsI thank my hon. Friend for that, and also for all the work that he and his council have done—they have been exemplary in getting on top of this issue. On temporary buildings, I am…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsI made the point to a journalist earlier— an off-the-cuff remark after the interview had finished—but I was responding to the fact that, in effect, the journalist had interviewed…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsIf there are schools in the hon. Lady’s area, they will have been identified and we will be working with a caseworker to mitigate those as soon as possible; if there are suspected…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsWe intend to publish management information. As I say, the list that will be published this week will have the initial information about mitigations. We will publish more…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsThe Church of England is the responsible body for some of the schools as well. The schools affected were built between 1950 and the mid-90s—it is only schools built during that…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsI can give the hon. Gentleman some good news. We are going to be funding schools more than ever before: £60 billion a year, and the overall capital budget, as I have said, is £19…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsWe have written to Northern Ireland officials and offered support. It is absolutely our priority to minimise remote learning as much as possible. The right hon. Gentleman is…04 Sept 2023HANSARD Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education SettingsYes, I absolutely agree. Our school rebuilding programme is much more efficient and much cheaper. It comes complete with classroom walls, and it is definitely much quicker to…04 Sept 2023