Raac concrete crisis: Scotland releases full school list as Houses of Parliament tested for Raac

As the Scottish government has released a list of schools impacted by Raac, Scottish education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said 37 schools were affected and that ministers had known since last year.

She said: “This has of course been an issue that the government has been aware of for some time, and that’s why action has been taken, and has been for some time, for example way back in July 2022 Scottish government officials made contact with the Scottish heads of Property Services and directors of education in Scotland to share information on Raac.

“I can completely appreciate why there is public concern on this, particularly given the way that announcements have been handled down in England.

“But I can reassure the member that we appreciate that public concern means we need to be as open as possible, as we can be, for this because parents and staff are concerned about this issue.”

Parliament is undergoing testing for Raac as the government becomes further embroiled in a crisis over the crumbling concrete, Bloomberg reports.

A source confirmed that tests were ongoing, but authorities were unable to say whether Raac has yet been detected.

Constructed in the 19th century, the buildings have been impacted by crumbling masonry, asbestos, leaks, vermin infestations and decades-old electrical wiring, with a body commissioned to produce estimates for a full-scale restoration finding that it would cost £22 billion and potentially take 76 years to carry out the work.

As an emblem of a government so out of touch that it looks for gratitude for presiding over 13 years of underinvestment that has left us with crumbling schools, we can do no better than Gillian Keegan’s “hot mic” moment, when she asked an ITV News correspondent:

“Does anyone ever say, ‘You know you’ve done a f****** good job because everyone else has sat on their arses and done nothing’. No signs of that, no?”

She has been slapped down by No 10 and made to apologise for her “choice language”, but it wasn’t how she said it but what she said that was so revealing – the apparent offensive sense of entitlement it suddenly illuminated, and in such stark contrast to the ritualistic expressions of concern for pupils and teachers.

The hot mic meltdown revealed the education secretary’s own stunning dereliction of duty – and an offensive sense of entitlement by a pound-store Marie Antoinette, writes Sean O’Grady:

Minister of State for Schools Nick Gibb laughed awkwardly when he was asked about education secretary Gillian Keegan’s sweary outburst in the crumbling concrete scandal.

Mr Gibb was asked by BBC Breakfast presenter Ben Boulos: “Are you as frustrated as your boss Gillian Keegan clearly is? How do you express your frustrations?”

Mr Gibb laughed awkwardly and said: “This was an off the cuff comment. She has apologised for the language used.

“She was frustrated by the questioning. She knows how hard civil servants in the department have been working on this issue since 2018.”

A primary school headteacher reacted with shock as she was shown Gillian Keegan’s sweary outburst amid the concrete crisis.

The education secretary was caught on a hot mic complaining about not being thanked for doing a “f****** good job” on Monday 4 September.

“I am horrified and disgusted by what I have just seen,” Cas Evans, headteacher at Parks Primary School in Leicester, said.

“Please, Gillian, come and see my school, come and really understand what RAAC looks like, what RAAC is in a school.

“Just come and see what your serving headteachers are doing in order to maintain a good education.”

Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, is facing criticism after her sweary outburst over the school concrete crisis was caught by a hot mic on Monday 4 September.

In a moment of frustration, she hit out at those who she argued had “sat on their arse and done nothing” and questioned why no one was saying “You’ve done a f****** good job”.

While her outburst piles pressure on Rishi Sunak and the government, Ms Keegan wasn’t the first politician to be caught out by a live microphone – and she certainly won’t be the last.

Here, The Independent takes a look at some of the most famous hot-mic moments from years gone by.

Only four schools have been refurbished under the government’s main rebuilding programme, despite Rishi Sunak’s promise it would cover 50 a year.

The PM has been forced to deny claims by a former top civil servant that he had ignored warnings over a “critical risk to life” by cutting repairs funding when he was chancellor.

The government is also reeling from extraordinary outburst by education secretary Gillian Keegan who said others had “sat on their a***” over the crisis and she had done a “f****** good job”.

One small but telling indicator that the Conservative Party has forgotten how to “do politics” – let alone govern a medium-sized G7 power – is the latest “attack line” deployed on social media by the Department for Education.

Under the catchy tagline “RAAC UPDATE” (ie RAAC scandal), it proudly declares: “MOST SCHOOLS UNAFFECTED”. As the swift Labour response suggested, it’s rather like the mayor of Amity Island putting “Jaws Update” posters up reading “Most beachgoers not eaten by big shark”. Like so much in this grim saga of bungles and botches, the great concrete crisis has given rise to some dark, gallows humour.

Editorial: Gillian Keegan’s response to the school building scandal has added to the grumbler’s lament that ‘nothing works any more’, from crumbling buildings and rail strikes to dirty rivers and NHS waiting lists. Her government must take its share of responsibility:

Education secretary Gillian Keegan has been criticised by colleagues for her “unilateral” decision to determine which school buildings need to close following the Raac crisis, Sky News reports.

Ministers fear she has opened a so-called “Pandora’s box” by being overly cautious, a move that could see a range of public buildings impacted, including hospitals and local authority buildings.

“This is suboptimal,” a senior Whitehall figure told Sky News. “She has made a unilateral decision. It’s not been resolved, and it’s a bit of a mess.”

The Confederation of School Trusts said it was “not helpful now to resort to finger-pointing” following education secretary Gillian Keegan’s comments that school chiefs who have not responded to a survey about crumbling concrete should “get off their backsides” and inform the government if they are affected.

Steve Rollett, deputy chief executive of the membership organisation and sector body for school trusts, said: “The vast majority of trusts submitted their survey responses ahead of the deadline earlier in the year.

“It is not helpful now to resort to finger-pointing at responsible bodies, especially given there may be a number of reasons why some questionnaire responses have not arrived.

“The priority is that government quickly builds confidence in the system that it knows the extent of the problem and that it has the short-term and long-term plans in place to resolve the issue.”