Rennie: RAAC threatens to wreck college budgets

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie has today written to the Education Secretary to express his concern after it emerged that as many as seven colleges have now identified the dangerous concrete RAAC at their sites.

Mr Rennie's letter is as follows:

Dear Jenny,

I am writing to highlight concerns over the state of the repair backlog to Scotland's colleges and the impact that the dangerous concrete RAAC is having on college budgets.

In an article published in The Scotsman last week, college leaders warned of “extreme concerns” about the impact of an escalating £775 million repair backlog that is being exacerbated by the discovery of dangerous crumbling concrete at several sites.

You will be aware that UHI Moray college expects to completely close a wing of its building this winter amid concerns about the impact of snow and rain on its RAAC roof.

Budgets for colleges have faced successive rounds of cuts and the result is classes learning in buildings that are crumbling around them.

I am concerned that this is short-sighted because colleges are well placed to provide the workers that sectors such as our renewables industry and the care sector need.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have warned of the risks posed by RAAC for well over a year. We need a national fund to remove RAAC from our public buildings but to date, I don't think the Scottish Government has set aside a single penny for this purpose. It’s not sustainable to leave this up to cash-strapped councils, health boards and colleges to pick up the tab.

Yours sincerely,

Willie Rennie

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson