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<p>It is the responsibility of those who run schools - academy trusts, Local Authorities
and voluntary-aided school bodies - to manage the safety and maintenance of their
schools and to alert the Department if there is a serious concern with a building.
It has always been the case that where the Department is made aware a building may
pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.</p><p>The Department’s focus is
on supporting schools and colleges to put in place suitable mitigations to minimise
disruption to learning. Mitigation plans could include carrying out structural work
so the space can continue to be used, or taking the space out of use, using other
spaces on the school site, or in nearby schools or elsewhere in the local area, until
structural supports or temporary buildings are installed. Mitigations depend on a
number of factors including type of building, building use and the extent of RAAC
in the space.</p><p>The supply of temporary buildings has been increased and the Department
has been working with three contractors, to accelerate the installation of these.
The Department also met key water and utility companies between 30 August and 5 September
2023 to ensure the easy connection to temporary services. The Department has secured
significant capacity to meet current needs and can increase this if necessary. The
Government will fund the emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe,
including installing alternative classroom space where necessary.</p><p>Where schools
and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, such as transport to locations
or temporarily renting a local hall or office, all reasonable requests will be approved.</p><p>The
Department will work with responsible bodies, surveyors and technical advisors to
establish a longer-term permanent resolution to the RAAC, and will fund the completion
of that work, including rebuilding where necessary.</p><p>Stepney All Saints School
was not one of the 52 schools with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete mitigations
in place referenced in the oral contribution of Monday 4 September 2023. It was included
in the list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC as of 14 September,
as published on 19 September. An updated list was published on 19 October available
at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information</a>.
This contains a summary of the number of settings with confirmed RAAC and the status
of education in place at these settings at the specified date.</p>
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