Conservative MPs votes to cover up dangerous school buildings

On 23rd May, 296 Conservative MPs, including Elliot Colburn and Paul Scully, voted against publishing detailed information regarding the condition of every school building in the country.

The Department for Education was given the data following a survey conducted between 2017 and 2019. 

After pressure from Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Munira Wilson, the Government revealed parts of the survey data, including that:

• 7,158 schools in England contain at least one building component, such as a roof, door or light fittings, deemed to be “life expired and/or at serious risk of imminent failure”;
• Almost nine in 10 schools have at least one building component that has a “major defect” or is “not operating as intended”.
• Overall, more than 240,000 fixtures and fittings were found to be defective. 

However, the Government has still refused to confirm if schools in Carshalton & Wallington have these defects and today voted to keep the information concealed despite a previous pledge to publish the data in full.

Bobby Dean, Liberal Democrat MP candidate for Carshalton & Wallington, said: 

“It is an absolute scandal that local Conservative MPs have voted to cover up whether our school buildings are built with dangerous or ‘life-expired’ materials.

“Parents across our borough deserve to know whether their child is being sent to a school with buildings that are safe and fit for purpose.

“Liberal Democrats believe that investing in education is investing in our future generation. Every crumbling school is a concrete sign of years of Conservative neglect of our public services. Parents, staff and pupils have all had enough of being taken for granted.”