Raac school closures: Labour plans vote to publish list of schools with collapse-risk concrete

Labour is planning to force a vote to compel the Government to reveal information about the scale of use of a lightweight concrete in schools after classrooms were closed days before the new term.

Ministers are facing calls for transparency over the extent to which reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) is affecting public buildings after experts warned the problem may not be limited to the education sector.

Labour said it plans to put forward a humble address – an arcane parliamentary mechanism sometimes used to demand papers from Government departments – to force the publication of a list of affected schools.

More than 100 schools and colleges have been told by the Department for Education (DfE) to fully or partially shut buildings due to the existence of Raac, just as pupils prepare to return after the summer holidays. It's thought at least 24 will have to close completely, but it is not yet clear exactly how many.

It follows the collapse last week of a beam previously thought to have been safe.

The government has come under fire because not only have other organisations been warning of the risk of Raac, but its own risk register named the situation "critical" in September 2021. Only this summer did it start surveying schools, after a National Audit Office report.

The Government has said a list of affected sites will be published “in due course” but has not said when.

Schools minister Nick Gibb admitted more classrooms could be forced to shut but the Government has insisted it acted decisively this week when new concerns came to light.

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “It’s time ministers were transparent about their handling of this debacle: if they still refuse to publish these documents and give parents the reassurances they deserve about the risks to their children’s safety, then we will force a vote in Parliament next week.”

Engineers have warned that the problem could be far wider, with hospitals, prisons, courts and offices potentially at risk due to the use of Raac up to the mid-1990s.

Raac is thought to be present in at least 34 hospitals across England, with the Government having pledged to replace seven of the worst affected by 2030.