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Rishi Sunak has batted away suggestions he was at fault for the concrete crisis in schools, in a Prime Minister’s Questions dominated by the issue.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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He faced Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer who likened the government to “cowboy builders” seeking to shift blame.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But Mr Sunak said his government acted “decisively” on the unsafe concrete and branded Sir Keir “Captain Hindsight”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The government has published a list of schools in England with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A total of 147 education settings are included on the list, which sets out the RAAC mitigation measures schools have been forced to take.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The long-awaited list was published on Wednesday, after more than 100 schools were ordered to fully or partially shut buildings before the new academic year over RAAC concerns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The government’s record on dealing with the RAAC crisis was the main focus of PMQs, the first such session since MPs returned from their summer break.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Sir Keir read out the names of schools earmarked for repairs in 2010 under a Labour scheme, but which remain on the government’s list of RAAC-exposed sites.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He quoted Gareth Davies, the head of spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO), who accused the government of a “sticking plaster approach” to school maintenance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Sir Keir asked, if Mr Sunak was not to blame, “why does everyone else say it’s his fault?”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mr Sunak said he would “make no apology for acting decisively” since new information about RAAC came to light and insisted the government was “everything it can to fix this quickly”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He said the RAAC situation in schools had “evolved over time” and argued “it’s something successive governments have dealt with”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n