Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with their counterparts in the devolved governments regarding the threat of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete to the safety of school buildings throughout the UK.

This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. We have acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue.

The Department regularly engages with the Devolved Administrations at both an official and Ministerial level. The Department offered Ministerial meetings with counterparts in the Scottish and Welsh administrations, and with officials in the Northern Irish administration on 31^st August. The meeting was accepted by the Scottish Minister for Education, and by officials in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Since then, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has offered meetings with all Devolved Administrations to offer support and further discussions should they wish to introduce a similar approach to tackling RAAC in their school estates, such as a programme similar to the Department’s questionnaire and survey programme which has been running since 2022.

All the relevant case information has been shared with the Devolved Administrations. Most recently the Department held a meeting at official level on 13 September 2023.