Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. It has always been the case that where the Department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken. It is important for young people to be in classrooms with their friends and teachers, but their safety must always come first.<\/p>
The Government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas. The Office of Government Property wrote to all Government Property Leaders in 2019, and again in September 2022, highlighting safety alerts on RAAC and signposting guidance on identification and remediation. The Department has been talking to schools about the potential risks of RAAC since 2018 when we first published a warning note with the Local Government Association. The Department published guidance on identifying and managing RAAC in 2021 (updated 2022, and 2023).<\/p>
Since then, Government departments have been surveying properties and depending on the assessment of the RAAC, decided to either monitor it, prop it up, or replace it. This is in line with the approach recommended by the Institution of Structural Engineers.<\/p>
Guidance to schools since 2018 has been clear about the need to have adequate contingencies in place for the eventuality that RAAC-affected buildings need to be vacated at short notice. The Department began a programme working with the sector to identify and manage RAAC in March 2022, extended to colleges in December.<\/p>
The Department discovered details of three new cases over the summer, where RAAC that would have been graded as non-critical had failed. The first of these was in a commercial setting. The second was in a school in a different educational jurisdiction.<\/p>
It was right to carefully consider the cases and scrutinise the technical details from these. The Department\u2019s technical officials were able to investigate the situation in one case where the plank that had failed was fully intact as it was resting on a steel beam after it failed. They concluded that it would previously been rated non-critical.<\/p>
Ministers were carefully considering the first two cases, and advice from officials, when a third failure of a panel occurred, at a school in late August. The Department\u2019s technical officials also visited this school to investigate the failure. In light of all three cases, it was right to make the difficult decision to change Departmental guidance for education settings and take a more cautious approach.<\/p>
Following careful analysis of these recent cases, a precautionary and proactive step has been taken to change the approach to RAAC in education settings ahead of the start of the academic year, as outlined in our guidance.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4703", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Barran"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Barran"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2023-10-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2023-10-16T09:47:21.94Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2023-09-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Schools: Buildings"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 20 January (HL4717), when they first became aware of serious safety issues concerning the use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete; and whether these safety concerns include an imminent risk to life.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/259", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for The Marquess of Lothian"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "The Marquess of Lothian"} ], "uin" : "HL10410"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1252034", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Transport"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1252034/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Equality and Human Rights Commission have published the guidance document \u201cMeeting the Equality Duty in Policy and Decision-Making\u201d which is available to all public authorities. Their guide provides advice on how to assess the potential impact on people with protected characteristics of a public authority\u2019s functions, including its policies, practices and decisions.<\/p>
<\/p>
The Local Air Quality Management Framework is set out in Part IV of the Environment Act 1995. It requires local authorities to review and assess air quality within their boundaries, and to produce an annual report detailing any monitoring results and any air pollution issues they have identified. Where an objective for a specific pollutant is exceeded the local authority must declare an Air Quality Management Area and produce an Air Quality Action Plan to address the exceedance.<\/p>
<\/p>
Annual reports must be made available to the public and will usually be accessible on the local authority\u2019s website. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs provides support for local authorities to carry out their statutory duties under the framework via statutory guidance and a dedicated helpline.<\/p>
<\/p>
Local traffic authorities have a statutory duty, under the Traffic Management Act 2004, to manage their networks with the aim of \u2018securing the expeditious movement of traffic\u2019. They are responsible for using their knowledge of traffic conditions and the road network in their area to decide on appropriate traffic management policies that balance the needs of local residents, emergency services, local businesses, and those who work in and visit the area. The Department has recently published statutory network management duty guidance for local authorities which emphasises the importance of consultation on road closures and other schemes.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4580", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Vere of Norbiton"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Vere of Norbiton"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-11-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "HL10409"} , {"_value" : "HL10411"} , {"_value" : "HL10412"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-11-20T10:09:54.033Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "27"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Transport"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Transport"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-11-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Roads: Closures"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 23 October (HL9102), what assessment they have made of the consistency of a local authority\u2019s decision not to monitor air quality data for road closures funded by the Emergency Active Travel Fund with the Local Air Quality Management framework.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4347", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Wolf of Dulwich"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Baroness Wolf of Dulwich"} ], "uin" : "HL10410"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/980141", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/980141/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "As arm\u2019s length bodies, DCMS-sponsored museums determine their own operational matters, including the decision to charge fees for re-use of images of items in their collections - this is an operational policy matter that therefore sits with the institutions themselves. As such it is not appropriate for Government to intervene in these matters and therefore no assessment has been made, or guidance provided, on image re-use. We are currently in the process of revising performance indicators for all fifteen of the DCMS sponsored museums. We are reviewing a broad range of museum activity and government policy in order to inform our decision around which performance indicators will be selected for inclusion in the museum management agreements from 2020. We are not in a position, at this stage, to comment on specific performance indicators as the project is ongoing. The National Archives has published guidance for public sector bodies on complying with the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015, including the attached guidance specifically for the culture sector, which can also be found here: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/psi-implementation-guidance-cultural-sector.pdf<\/a> It is each Accounting Officer's responsibility to ensure that their organisation is compliant with the terms and principles of Managing Public Money. DCMS has a governance framework in place and regularly engages with its arm\u2019s length bodies regarding compliance issues. "} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4247", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Ashton of Hyde"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Ashton of Hyde"} , "attachment" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/980141/answer/attachment/1", "fileName" : {"_value" : "psi-implementation-guidance-cultural-sector.pdf"} , "title" : "Guidance - the Re-use of Public Sector Information"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-10-15", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "HL10408"} , {"_value" : "HL10409"} , {"_value" : "HL10411"} , {"_value" : "HL10412"} , {"_value" : "HL10413"} , {"_value" : "HL10474"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-10-15T16:44:12.707Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "10"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-10-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Museums and Galleries: Copyright"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of museums sharing commercial information relating to museum picture libraries, such as pricing structures, future commercial plans and approaches to clients, on the market for licensing images.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2593", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Freyberg"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Freyberg"} ], "uin" : "HL10410"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }