Labour claims Rishi Sunak doesn't think schools should be safe in new attack ad - The Mirror

Labour has claimed Rishi Sunak doesn't think schools should be safe as it relaunches its controversial attack adverts against the Prime Minister. The social media post from Keir Starmer's party comes as more than 100 schools and colleges were told to partially or fully shut buildings over fears that dangerous concrete could collapse.

Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the Government needs to "come clean" about the problem of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in schools as she accused ministers of ignoring years of warnings. The concrete was used in buildings between the 1950s and 1990s but has a life expectancy of just 30 years. Asked why the Labour government had not fixed the problem when it was in power, Ms Phillipson said her party had a plan to rebuild schools but the Tories and Lib Dems tore it up after being elected to government in 2010.

The Labour Party's official Twitter account launched a fresh attack on the Prime Minister by posting a photo of Mr Sunak next to the caption: "Do you think your child's school should be safe? Rishi Sunak doesn't." It added: "During Rishi Sunak's time as chancellor, he cut spending on school rebuilding by almost HALF. That's after the Tories and Lib Dems scrapped Labour's Building Schools for the Future programme in 2010. The Tories ignored Labour's warnings time and time again - now our children are paying the price with crumbling schools."

A huge row erupted after Labour published adverts earlier this year which claimed Mr Sunak doesn't believe paedophiles, people who possess a gun with intent and thieves should go unpunished. Despite the backlash, Labour leader Mr Starmer said he made "zero apologies" despite making supporters "squeamish".

The return of his party's adverts comes as the Department for Education suddenly changed its stance on dangerous concrete on schools last week, days before pupils were due to return back from the summer break from tomorrow. Ministers have still failed to publish the list of schools that have closed, or give a figure for those at risk. The Mirror revealed last night that up to 7,000 at-risk schools have yet to be checked for crumbling concrete as ministers scrambled to get a grip on the crisis. This newspaper understands that on Monday an army of structural engineers will be dispatched to inspect hundreds of schools.

Speaking on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Ms Phillipson said: "Ministers need to come clean, be upfront and be honest with parents about what we're facing right now. I think we need to be upfront, have that full list, and be absolutely clear about what's going on and if we need further surveys to take place in order to determine the full scale of what's happened then so be it."

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2023-09-03 09:17:07Z
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RAAC: Fears over asbestos as Jeremy Hunt can't say how many school closures expected - The Independent

Expert explains why Raac is more dangerous than standard concrete

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Jeremy Hunt was this morning unable to say how many more schools were potentially at risk from RAAC amid reports up to 7,000 could contain the unsafe concrete.

The chancellor said the government was carrying out an “exhaustive” programme to identify more sites that may be affected as he vowed to “spend what it takes” to remove RAAC from schools.

“I don’t want to speculate on these numbers because I think that might scare people unnecessarily,” he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, following reports that 7,000 schools are at risk.

The school RAAC scandal escalated overnight amid fears that asbestos could be exposed in some of the sites affected.

Asbestos and reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) often exist in the same building and at least 80 per cent of schools have asbestos present, according to The Sunday Times.

“Asbestos in schools presents a significant complicating factor in remediating issues relating to RAAC. Asbestos, once disturbed, is a serious hazard,” John Wallace, managing director of Ridgemont, a specialist estate law firm in London, told the paper.

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Watch: Jeremy Hunt explains why parents were told about unsafe RAAC schools so last minute

Jeremy Hunt explains why parents were told about unsafe Raac schools so last minute

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 11:07

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Labour won’t commit to spending more money on schools than government

Labour has refused to commit to spending more money on building schools than the government, insisting if it forms a government it will face a "really tall order."

"We had a plan, they scrapped it, had they pressed ahead we wouldn’t be having this conversation. That’s the reality," she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show.

Asked why she would not commit to spending for rebuilding schools, she said: "Because we face a really difficult situation around the economy."

She added: "The public finances are in a terrible state. The next Labour government, if we form a government, will face a really tall order, but I am confident that we will put education right back at the heart of the ambition that we have for Britain."

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 10:32

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Ministers need to ‘come clean’ about scale of RAAC issue - Labour

Labour shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the government needs to "come clean" about the problem of RAAC in schools

Speaking to Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News, she said: "Ministers need to come clean, be upfront and be honest with parents about what we’re facing right now."

She added: "I think we need to be upfront, have that full list, and be absolutely clear about what’s going on and if we need further surveys to take place in order to determine the full scale of what’s happened then so be it."

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 10:16

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Hunt denies pupils face ‘months’ of disruption

Jeremy Hunt denied there would be "months on end" of children unable to access classrooms but refused to give a deadline for when the disruption would be fully resolved.

Asked whether disruption to schools could last "months on end", he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: "It won’t be. This problem is currently affecting around 100 schools but the majority of those are able to operate face to face."

Asked to when the problem might be fixed, he said: "What I can give you a sense of is the speed at which we’ve acted... We’ve put in place counter measures in a majority of the remaining schools."

He could not guarantee that there are not hospitals in which patients are currently not safe due to RAAC, but promised that if the government receives any information suggesting this it would take "the action that is necessary".

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 09:40

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Hunt refuses to be drawn on 7,000 figure

Jeremy Hunt would not be drawn on reports that up to 7,000 more schools could be affected by RAAC.

He said the government would act as soon as it had information, when asked if ministers knew how many other public buildings contain the unsafe building material.

“I don’t want to speculate on these numbers because I think that might scare people unnecessarily.”

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 09:35

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Hunt: We won’t take any risks with child safety

The government will not take “any risks” with the safety of children in schools, Jeremy Hunt has said.

The chancellor also said the government would cover the cost of removing RAAC from the schools that have been affected.

“We will spend what it takes to sort out this problem,” he told the BBC.

He added that, when any new information comes to light about the potential risk in a school, parents will be told immediately, “however awkward or difficult is”.

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 09:29

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Hunt: We acted fast on RAAC

Jeremy Hunt has insisted the government acted “fast” to deal with the risk of RAAC.

In an interview with the BBC, it was put to the chancellor that the ministers had known about the risks for “years and years”.

He said: “I understand the frustrations..but what I would say to every one of those families is that we acted fast when the problem first arose.

“What happened in the summer months is that buildings that had been previously checked…classified as safe…the view changed.”

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 09:22

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Hunt unable to confirm schools will get extra money to cover cost of rent

Jeremy Hunt was unable to confirm that schools having to rent out buildings to house pupils over concerns about RAAC would get extra money to cover the cost.

“We will make sure that they [headteachers] can keep their children safe,” he told Sky News.

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 09:07

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Hunt: ‘Wrong’ to suggest we did nothing to protect schools

Jeremy Hunt has said it is “wrong” to suggest that the government has done nothing to protect schools from crumbling concrete.

The government has known since 1994 that some public sector buildings contain potentially compromised RAAC and has been monitoring their condition since 2018, following the collapse of school roof buildings.

More than 100 schools were forced to shut on Thursday evening - days before the start of the new term.

“Well I think that it is just wrong,” Mr Hunt said when it was put to him that the government “didn’t really do anything” when concerns were raised about the issue.

“The building schools for the future programme was changed and it was changed in order to reduce the cost of building more schools…so that we could spend more money on repairs to the schools in the estate.”

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 09:02

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Hunt pushes back on suggestions government doesn’t know how many public buildings affected

Jeremy Hunt has pushed back on suggestions that the government doesn’t know how many public buildings are affected by RAAC.

It was put to the chancellor that the government was unable to say how many schools, hospitals and courts contained the unsafe material.

He said: “I don’t think that’s a fair characterisation...of what’s been happening.

“I’m telling you that what the government has been doing is an exhaustive programme of contacting every school to try and identify where the risk is and acting immediately when we find the information.”

Matt Mathers3 September 2023 08:48

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2023-09-03 10:07:15Z
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First concrete, now asbestos: schools could shut for months - The Times

ACT NOW ON ASBESTOS

First concrete, now asbestos: schools could shut for months

updated

Fixing our crumbling roofs threatens to release deadly fibres, compounding the farce for head teachers

Asbestos could be exposed in schools affected by crumbling concrete, experts have warned, meaning that many could shut for months.

There are fears that such is the scale of the problem that some schools may even have to be demolished.

More than 150 schools were told last week — days before they were due to reopen — that they would have to close buildings containing unstable reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Engineers have warned with increasing urgency that RAAC, which was used by builders between the 1950s and 1980s and is often described as “Aero bar” concrete, can become unstable when it exceeds its 30-year lifespan.

Experts warn that the presence of RAAC also increases the danger of exposure to asbestos, which kills 5,000 people

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2023-09-03 08:30:00Z
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Jeremy Hunt: We will spend what it takes to make schools safe from crumbly concrete - BBC

England's children's commissioner Rachel de Souza says there is a "real problem" post-pandemic with school attendance

She speaks to research that finds 1.8 million children, of 8 million pupils, are frequently missing school.

De Souza says that, first of all, we have to accept that the effect of the pandemic is still present.

She says there are three types of pupils who are missing school on a regular basis.

"There is a group of children that are anxious," she says, adding that she is working with mental health support and hospitals to encourage better attendeace.

De Souza also notes that children with special educational needs also find it easier at home.

And the third instance is that some children are playing truant and not coming into school, she adds.

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2023-09-03 00:49:00Z
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Two men arrested by officers investigating NI police data breach - The Guardian

Two men have been arrested under the Terrorism Act by police officers investigating the PSNI data breach.

The suspects, aged 21 and 22, were arrested on Saturday in the Portadown area of County Armagh, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said on X, formerly known as Twitter. They will be questioned at the Musgrave serious crime suite in Belfast.

DCI Avine Kelly said: “We continue to work toward establishing those who possess information relating to last week’s data breach, and will take action to ensure that any criminality identified is dealt with robustly to keep communities, and our officers and staff who serve them, safe.”

In August the PSNI said a document was mistakenly uploaded in response to a freedom of information request, which included the names of about 10,000 officers and civilian staff members.

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2023-09-02 19:35:00Z
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PSNI data breach: Two men arrested under Terrorism Act in investigation over 'linked criminality' - Sky News

Two men have been arrested under the Terrorism Act by officers investigating the breach of data from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The suspects are aged 21 and 22 and were held following a "search in the Portadown area on Saturday", the PSNI said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It added: "The arrests are part of our investigation into criminality linked to the freedom of information data breach."

Sky's senior Ireland correspondent, David Blevins, said the arrests were "not related to the data breach itself".

He added: "The Northern Ireland Policing Board has ordered an independent review of how the names of 10,000 officers and staff were mistakenly released.

"But detectives are also investigating how the information has been distributed and have made a number of similar arrests in the last three weeks."

The data was leaked when the PSNI published the information in response to a Freedom of Information request.

On Friday, it emerged that PSNI officers were investigating an "attempt to intimidate" officers after a poster claiming to reveal their details was put up near a bus stop.

The force has since confirmed the poster was fake and contained incorrect details.

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NI police data breach explained

Read more:
Shocked wife of NI officer says they are 'living in fear'
Dissident republicans blamed after leaked PSNI document posted on wall

A woman who said her name was on the poster says she is "outraged" and not a police officer.

In a statement released through a solicitor, she said: "My personal information was written on the poster that was put up in Dungiven that linked myself, my partner and two other named individuals to the PSNI.

"I live in a small rural village and everyone in the area who has seen the poster thinks it is referring to me, although everyone would know that I am not a police officer.

"I can categorically clarify that I am not a serving police officer and I have never been employed by the police in any capacity.

"This is just plain wrong and I am outraged that I have now potentially been made a target for an imminent attack on my life."

She also said she was "deeply upset and concerned" and claimed the PSNI "refused my request to issue a statement confirming that I am not a police officer".

A PSNI spokesperson said they could "confirm that the person raising these concerns has no current or historic links to the police service".

Detective Chief Inspector Avine Kelly said: "We continue to work toward establishing those who possess information relating to last week's data breach, and will take action to ensure that any criminality identified is dealt with robustly to keep communities, and our officers and staff who serve them, safe."

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2023-09-02 19:14:54Z
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Live updates after girl, 3, attacked by dog in Kirkby town centre - Liverpool Echo

A three-year-old girl has been attacked by a dog in Kirkby town centre.

Police were called to Newton Gardens outside the Market Tavern pub this afternoon to reports a young girl had been injured after an attack by a dog. Merseyside Police's Force Incident Manager confirmed officers were currently at the scene and the incident is ongoing.

Merseyside Police has now confirmed the three year old girl has suffered "significant injuries" to her face which are described as serious but not life threatening.

A 31-year-old man from Ormskirk has been arrested and the dog, of which the breed has not yet been determined, has been seized.

We'll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.

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2023-09-02 18:13:00Z
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