Kate Osborne said:
St James’s school in my constituency alongside hundreds of schools nationally have been badly let down by Ministers.
St James’s had critical RAAC identified in June, despite what the Minister told the media – this has not been immediately fixed and it is her responsibility.
Ministers and the DFE guidance has been contradictory on funding temporary costs and the school has been told to fund travel and temporary arrangements themselves.
This is not acceptable – can the Minister confirm a timetable for works to make schools safe and that all costs will be fully funded.
Following the Question Kate Osborne said:
Whilst I’m pleased the Minister gave me a commitment that St James’s school would be fully reimbursed, she gave no indication of a timeline for works and dismissed her rude comments as off the cuff remarks. There is nothing off the cuff about telling the media that it was not her responsibility and that it was “not the job of the Department for Education” to ensure children are learning in safe school buildings.
This whole saga is a shambles, a complete disgrace and abdication of both Government responsibility and the consequence of Government cuts and underfunding of our schools.
I will be helping St James’s and potentially other schools as much as possible and continuing to demand that the Government takes urgent actions to ensure our kids are back learning in safe environments.
ENDS:
Note:
Kate’s social media on this including video of Question and Minister Response https://twitter.com/KateOsborneMP/status/1698762117044646377?s=20