Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of nurseries in each region in England that require building works to remove reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC was published on 19 October, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information. This contains a summary of the number of settings with confirmed RAAC and the status of education in place at these settings at the specified date. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out.

Maintained nursery schools, which fall under the Department’s remit, were asked to complete a questionnaire. All settings that inform the Department via their questionnaire response that they have suspected RAAC are being fast tracked for surveying. All education settings that are currently suspected as containing RAAC are surveyed in a matter of weeks. As of 16 October 2023, the Department has not found RAAC in any maintained nursery schools.

The departmental guidance covers educations settings including schools, colleges and maintained nursery schools. If RAAC is confirmed or suspected in other settings, leaders and relevant responsible bodies may want to consider the principles and approaches set out in the guidance in relation to managing their buildings and the mitigating actions necessary to ensure continuity of provision.

The Government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.