Mr Bradley spoke about how the county council has been working with the education department and schools for many months to get surveys in place to make sure that there is an accurate picture of the schools’ estate. The Mansfield MP highlighted the fact that thanks to this work: “the sum total of disruption in Nottinghamshire this week is the return of one primary school being delayed by a couple of days. That is a good result in the circumstances of his late change of guidance, so I am really grateful for that work and the support of the DFE”.
Mr Bradley proceeded to ask the Secretary of State, Rt Hon Gillian Keegan, if the Department would consider helping to ensure that existing buildings end up in the most appropriate places at the right time.
The Secretary of State praised Mr Bradley and Nottinghamshire County Council on their work and stating that: “they have been exemplary in getting on top of this issue”. The Secretary of State agreed that she would be happy to have a further discussion about the temporary buildings in Mansfield and Nottinghamshire.
Commenting, Ben Bradley stated:
‘I was glad to speak in the Commons and reassure the people of Mansfield and Nottinghamshire that the issues are being dealt with. A lot of work and funding has gone in over several years to ensure our school estate is fit for purpose. The total impact in Nottinghamshire is one primary school being delayed in returning by a few days.’
‘Locally, a huge amount of time and work has gone into tackling aerated concrete in school buildings over many years, with significant national and local investment in Notts schools, which is why no schools in Mansfield are affected by this issue. It's something a lot of organisations have been working on for a long time.’
‘In Mansfield we are having four schools totally rebuilt through Government funds, and we have a £9m County Council programme of school building improvements too, with the largest of those schemes being for Intake Farm Primary.’
You can find a video of Ben’s question his Facebook page here.
A written version of Ben’s question is available on Hansard here.
