UK

Gillian Keegan to make school visit amid pressure over crumbling concrete crisis

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is under fire over the concrete crisis (James Manning/PA)
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is under fire over the concrete crisis (James Manning/PA)

Under-pressure Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is visiting a school affected by the crumbling concrete crisis as thousands of pupils have been told to stay at home.

The Cabinet minister will be meeting school leaders and MPs in Essex, one of the areas worst hit by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), on Thursday.

She will be visiting a school with mitigations in place, rather than one of those forced to close completely just as students prepared to return for the new school year.

Ms Keegan ordered more than 100 schools and colleges to make either full or partial closures last week after she received new evidence over the concrete’s collapse risk.

She has provoked anger after she was caught on camera asking why no-one says “you’ve done a f****** good job” while “everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing”.

The Education Secretary is not expected to do any media at the school visit.

A list published by the Department for Education (DfE) shows 147 schools have been affected so far by Raac, with 19 forced to delay the start of term.

Four have had to switch to remote learning for all students, and an additional 20 have had to offer some remote learning.