Lib Dems call for government to name seven independent schools which have dangerous concrete

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today revealed that seven independent schools in Scotland have identified the presence of reinforced aerated autoclaved concrete (RAAC) and called on the Scottish Government to publish a full list of all buildings in which the dangerous building material is present.

Notes from the Scottish Government’s Cross Sector Working Group Meeting on 21 September released under freedom of information legislation reveal for the first time that seven independent schools have identified RAAC.

The note also confirms that there were 16 universities and colleges where RAAC has been identified or it is a high likelihood, equating to around 40 buildings, 17 of which are closed or partly closed.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

“It’s not good enough for the facts of Scotland’s concrete crisis to trickle out from the government in fits and starts.

“To give parents, teachers and pupils confidence that use of this dangerous material is being addressed, ministers should publish a full list of all the sites where they have identified RAAC as being in use and set out what steps have been taken to make the sites safe.

“We now know the Scottish Government was told about the dangers of RAAC in 2019. Fire station roofs were the canary in the coalmine for the crisis now affecting schools and hospitals, and yet the government didn’t tell Parliament, ignored it internally and even cut budgets when cash was sought to fix it.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats are also calling for a national fund to remove RAAC from our public buildings so that cash-strapped public services can get to work fixing this.