Schools in England to immediately shut buildings with dangerous concrete

Responding to reports in The Guardian which say the UK Government has told schools in England to immediately shut buildings made with aerated concrete until safety work is undertaken, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"In May, my party revealed that at least 37 Scottish schools had this dangerous concrete in place. Since then that figure has continued to grow.

"We cannot have children being taught in potentially unsafe buildings. The Scottish Government should have done far more over the summer to assess the scale of this problem and get repairs underway.

"We need a ministerial statement from the Scottish Government and a commitment from the First Minister to set up a fund to support councils and health boards in removing the material from buildings such as schools and hospitals.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats would provide the funds needed for schools to urgently remove this concrete from their buildings and clear the backlog of school repairs."