More than 100 schools told to close buildings over safety fears

As I didn’t see the programme I wasn’t commenting on what was said on it FP. Thanks for the link but I don’t wish to watch her thanks. Doubtless I will be able to catch up with the news elsewhere. Maybe they will spend what it takes and reduce education budgets accordingly.

Errrmmm? You mean the civil servants, one of whom has just reported the dastardliness?

I understood that was a former perm. sec. at the DfE, not the Treasury.

My 'dastardly Treasury' comment was meant to be an ironic reference to the fact that Sunak drastically cut the schools rebuilding plan, from an already inadequate 100 a year to 50. when he was Chancellor.

In view of the current Chancellor's apparent inability to control the Treasury, perhaps Sunak had the same problem...

Please make an exception and watch the interview

www.bbc.com/news/uk-66700026

we will spend what it takes to make sure children can go to school safely YES

Couldn't be clearer

Germanshepherdsmum

I can’t stand the woman so no, I never watch it now.

Well can't blame you there. But then best not to comment on what was said on that Programme to LK, perhaps.

MaizieD

^So who else blocked the spending on buildings when he was Chancellor?^

Maybe it was that dastardly 'Treasury'?

Errrmmm? You mean the civil servants, one of whom has just reported the dastardliness?

Sunak authorised major work on 50 schools a year. There are approximately 20,000 schools in England. He's supposed to be good at maths, so I'm sure he could have worked out that it would take 400 years to get round to major repairs at that rate.

I've just been reminded by a friend is that another problem is the original footings and the walls, which were often constructed with metal frames, might not be strong enough for a new roof. RAAC is light, which is one reason why it was used.

So who else blocked the spending on buildings when he was Chancellor?

Maybe it was that dastardly 'Treasury'?

Whitewavemark2

The Guardian headline says that the Treasury has no intention of funding the crumbling schools.

Sunak is refusing to take the blame.

So who else blocked the spending on buildings when he was Chancellor?

I think it's an attempt at double-speak - maybe trying to repeat Johnson's promises to do whatever it took to defeat Covid by saying he'd spend however much is needed. He just conveniently forgot to mention that it will come out of the existing budget and the Treasury won't fund items such as transport.

The Guardian headline says that the Treasury has no intention of funding the crumbling schools.

Sunak is refusing to take the blame.

^ It sounds to me like the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing between the government departments as there is still conflicting information about who is paying what.^

There really is a crucial question to be asked, isn't there?

Just who is in charge at the Treasury?

Wouldn't it have been a bit disastrous in the 2008 financial crisis if the Treasury had overruled the Chancellor and the PM, who are in charge of the country and its finances, and not allowed the QE that saved the banks (and people's bank accounts?

I. must admit that the blustering Education Secretary did not fill mewith hope. It is clear that the right hand and the left hand are not working in tune .

MerylStreep

Looks like Germanshepherdsmum is one of the 700,000 viewers who have stopped watching the programme since Laura Kuenssberg took over the show.

It was the headlines on BBC News yesterday so I doubt if it would have been possible to miss it, you didn’t need to watch LK to know what was said. It sounds to me like the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing between the government departments as there is still conflicting information about who is paying what.

MOnica I couldn't agree with you more! Yes, it's down to money, but it's also down to expertise in recognising RAAC and asbestos - and how to remove them. Even a single householder couldn't get the job done overnight, without somebody who knew what they were doing.

Germanshepherdsmum

I can’t stand the woman so no, I never watch it now.

Looks like we are not alone 😂

Joseann

I will ertainly answer you Monica and then buzz off, by maintenance, I don't just mean those who do simple repair jobs, but those in the team who have already taken advice from structural engineers and architects, and who have spent all this weekend re arranging the sites so the children can return this week with no disruption. Therein lies the difference, and yes, all down to money.
Must go now.

Oh yes? So site maintenance staff are capable of demolishing and rebuilding rooves, are they? I think not! And it takes longer than a couple of weeks to do the job.

I can’t stand the woman so no, I never watch it now.

Looks like Germanshepherdsmum is one of the 700,000 viewers who have stopped watching the programme since Laura Kuenssberg took over the show.

MaizieD

Germanshepherdsmum

No new money and costs coming from the existing budget are one and the same thing. No contradiction

The contradiction is in the Chancellor announcing that they will do whatever it takes and the Treasury then saying, 'Nope, it will come out of existing budget'.

Budget, we are then told by a former permanent secretary, that was halved by our now PM when he was Chancellor.

Perhaps GSM didn't watch the LK programme yesterday- where very clear promises were made.

It's been known about for a long time. When Labour were last jn power, in 2010, they had set aside funds to repair the affected buildings, along came the Tories, and Gove, and cancelled the whole scheme.
The sooner the Tories are out, the better.

Germanshepherdsmum

No new money and costs coming from the existing budget are one and the same thing. No contradiction

The contradiction is in the Chancellor announcing that they will do whatever it takes and the Treasury then saying, 'Nope, it will come out of existing budget'.

Budget, we are then told by a former permanent secretary, that was halved by our now PM when he was Chancellor.

I can't help thinking that somewhere in Westminster a group of Tory bigwigs are sitting calculating how long the surveys could take, how long they can put off releasing the results, what's the smallest amount of money they can commit and how soon they could call a general election. And there couldn't possibly be any connections there at all could there?

I will ertainly answer you Monica and then buzz off, by maintenance, I don't just mean those who do simple repair jobs, but those in the team who have already taken advice from structural engineers and architects, and who have spent all this weekend re arranging the sites so the children can return this week with no disruption. Therein lies the difference, and yes, all down to money.
Must go now.

No new money and costs coming from the existing budget are one and the same thing. No contradiction

Chardy

According to this morning's News, the Treasury said yesterday that there will no new money! (That's after Hunt's morning promises)

Quite extraordinary as the Chancellor is supposed to be in charge of the Treasury.

I suspect that the morning promise was for show only, it made it look as though, just for once, the government really cared and was resolved on immediate action which wouldn't place any burden on school budgets.

But really there was no intention to bear the cost. No doubt the hope is that everyone will remember Hunt's grand gesture of the morning and will have missed the Treasury's contradiction.

I have seen estimates that some 20% of Britain's 22,000 schools might be affected. That's 4,500 schools. While this might be a vast exaggeration I'm sure there will be far more than the 100+ already identified. The departmental budget won't cover it at all.