The crumbling concrete in the UK’s schools could highlight a far greater issue with maintenance of the public estate.
Gareth Davies, head of the National Audit Office, has accused the government of a “sticking plaster approach” to essential maintenance.
The comments come after education secretary Gillian Keegan, was caught on camera saying that she was doing “a fucking good job” while others had “sat on their arse and done nothing”.
Meg Hillier, chair of the public accounts committee, said the scramble to deal with the problem was “chickens coming home to roost” after the Department for Education was given less than it said it needed to repair schools.
The department had asked for £400m to tackle the problem in the recent spending review. It was given £50m by the then chancellor Rishi Sunak.
