Concrete: Two schools in Wales close over concerns

Two schools on Anglesey have closed because of concerns over concrete, the Welsh government has said.

Pupils were meant to be returning to Ysgol David Hughes and Ysgol Uwchradd Caergybi on Tuesday.

They are the first schools to be identified by ministers in Cardiff as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

But work is continuing to assess the scale of the issue across Wales, with the results expected in two weeks.

The Health and Safety Executive has said that RAAC is now beyond its lifespan and may "collapse with little or no notice".

Wales' Education Minister Jeremy Miles said that Welsh schools are safe, but criticised the UK government for being late to provide evidence of a greater safety risk

The Welsh Conservatives accused Mr Miles of passing the buck, while Plaid said it was concerning that the scale of the problem remained unknown.

More than 100 schools, colleges and nurseries in England were ordered to close affected buildings by the UK government last week.

It comes after RAAC was found in three Welsh hospitals earlier this year.

Both affected Anglesey schools are secondaries - Ysgol David Hughes in Menai Bridge and Ysgol Uwchradd Caergybi in Holyhead - while Cardiff University has also shut an area of one of its buildings as a "precautionary measure".

In a letter to parents, Ysgol David Hughes' head teacher Emyr Williams said it was hoped the school would be partly or fully open by Thursday, while further safety inspections are carried out.

Engineers in the county will re-examine schools to check there are no more than two with RAAC.

Council leader Llinos Medi told BBC Radio Wales: "The new guidance is asking us to be 100% sure that there is no risk in it. Now that they want the evidence, we have to go out and get the evidence."

Swansea council has said RAAC had not been found in its schools, while Denbighshire says it has surveyed all its buildings and not found the material.

Bridgend said surveyors were being sent to any school where the use of RAAC could not be ruled out while Cardiff council said "to date" no RAAC had been found in its schools.

Carmarthenshire said it does not anticipate discovering signs of RAAC but said following preliminary assessments said it is holding further surveys.

Ceredigion said it had no immediate concerns but was conducting further assessments.

Flintshire said RAAC has not been reported in its own rolling programme of condition surveys on council-owned buildings.

Gwynedd is also making further assessments and said all its schools will be open tomorrow.

Pembrokeshire said none of the concrete had been identified in its properties "to date".

Meanwhile, Merthyr Tydfil said it had not found RAAC slabs after inspecting 23 out of 29 buildings.

Monmouthshire added that it had conducted "initial reviews" and is working with the Welsh government.

Mr Miles told BBC Wales: "Schools are safe, these two are the only two that have been identified and they've been very safely managed."

He said most councils are telling the Welsh government "they're confident that they don't have RAAC in their schools buildings".

In announcing the closures, the education minister claimed that evidence of incidents with RAAC that occurred over the summer were only provided to the Welsh government in writing at 18.57 BST on Sunday "despite repeated requests".

The statement suggested the incidents showed a "heightened safety risk regarding the usage of RAAC".

A headteachers union said there was an "information vacuum that school and college leaders have not been equipped to deal with".

Eithne Hughes of ASCL Cymru said: "This is a problem that has been known about for some time and it is deeply frustrating that this change in guidance has happened so suddenly at the start of term.

"The apparent breakdown in communication between the Department for Education and the devolved governments has clearly not been conducive to the handling of this situation."

One Cardiff University building has been closed as a "precautionary measure until appropriate remedial works have been completed."

Withybush Hospital, in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, recently moved patients after the concrete was found.

The material was also found in a "limited part" of Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.

At Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, four offices, part of the restaurant and the chapel were closed earlier this month after RAAC was identified.

The Welsh government has said RAAC does "not appear to be a widespread issue" in hospitals in Wales, and that all health boards have been asked to carry out survey work.

Bangor University, which is reviewing its estate, said in a statement that it has placed no entry signs on areas where it has not concluded inspections, but it said they were spaces "where access is normally restricted".

"At the present time we have not identified any immediate concerns with our main buildings," it said.

In a statement to Senedd members Jeremy Miles said Welsh councils were made aware of the "potential issue" with RAAC through the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) in February 2020 after a safety alert published in 2019.

Mr Miles said the Welsh government commissioned a "condition and energy survey of all state funded schools and colleges" in May.

"The nature of this survey would highlight any structures suspected of containing RAAC for further inspection," he said.

"We are undertaking further work to verify the position across Wales and a review of the latest information held by local authorities is underway.

"We expect to have the results of that within the next two weeks."

Once that is done Mr Miles said "we will engage with specialist structural engineers" to work with councils and colleges to "undertake any urgent appraisal of newly identified instances" of RAAC.

"We anticipate completion of this work by the end of December," he added.

He said the Welsh government has had an "extensive programme for the refurbishment and building of new schools and colleges" and has targeted £2.35bn towards new-build and major refurbishment projects.

BBC Wales asked the Welsh government when the work to check the position in schools began, for clarification on whether the survey of the condition of schools was more general than looking at RAAC from the outset, but did not receive a response by late Monday.

Neil Butler of the NASUWT union said he wrote to the Welsh government about the issue in July, and was told ministers had commissioned a survey that was due to start in October.

He told Radio Wales that things then "changed because of what was going on in England and new evidence presumably I think that came from England that was finally communicated and the Welsh government have now responded more robustly".

He said he had a meeting with the Welsh government on Tuesday. "I hope and trust, and this is what I'll be asking, they will be speeding up a review to find out where this stuff is," he said.

The Welsh Conservatives have said Wales' Labour government "can't pass the buck" as "they're in charge of schools in Wales, so building safety is their responsibility.

"Unlike in England, where decisive action was taken by the Conservative government, Labour have sat on their hands in Wales and put pupils' safety at risk," said Tory Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies.

Plaid Cymru said it was concerning "that the scale of the problem across the country is currently unknown".

"By not sharing the latest evidence until late last night with the Welsh government, the UK government has potentially put the safety of children, young people and staff in schools and colleges at risk," said Plaid's education spokeswoman Heledd Fychan.

"Welsh government must now act decisively to ensure that this risk is mitigated."

The UK government has been asked to comment on Mr Miles' remarks.

UK Education Secretary Gillian Keegan faced questions in the Commons on Monday asking if Westminster will help fund repair works.

Delyn MP Rob Roberts asked "given this situation pre-dates devolution by several decades".

Plaid Cymru's MP for Arfon, Hywel Williams, said the minister had said she stood ready to support Jeremy Miles "but the Chancellor says that there's no money".

She told the Commons the Welsh government "will be providing the response to RAAC in Wales and also the funding for RAAC in Wales".