Jeremy Hunt to deal with concrete crisis ‘extremely quick – but has no timeframe | UK News

Jeremy Hunt has been probed yet again about the ‘crumbling concrete crisis’ affecting schools in England.

Big promises were made about the Chancellor about dealing with school closures ‘extremely quick’.

But he refused to share a timeframe or to be drawn on the possible cost of fixing the problem, for which the government is understood to have known about for at least five years.

Facing Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One this morning about reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), he denied there would be ‘months on end’ of pupils not being able to access classrooms.

Hunt said: ‘This problem is currently affecting around 100 schools but the majority of those are able to operate face to face.’

Asked to when the RAAC problem might be fixed, he added: ‘What I can give you a sense of is the speed at which we have acted.

‘We have put in place counter measures in a majority of the remaining schools.’

The Department for Education (DfE) was told about the impact of the material in 2018, but the public is only learning about it now, after the sudden collapse of a concrete beam last week.

As a result, more than 100 schools and colleges have been ordered to close their buildings over ‘safety risks’ – just two days before children were due to go back to school.

But Hunt said the majority of schools where RAAC has been identified are able to operate.

Experts have warned that the crisis could extend beyond the education sector, with hospitals, courts and offices also potentially at risk.

The politician 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’.

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