Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 07 September 2023
07 Sep 2023 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
I say to Alex Cole-Hamilton with the greatest respect that one of the reasons why this has not caused the same public alarm as has been caused since the Department for Education’s change in approach last week is that national and local government have been quietly getting on with the job of ensuring that the work is done. That is exactly why some of the examples in East Lothian and West Lothian that I gave in my statement pre-date the rigmarole that we have had over the past week or so.
Parents have been being informed, as have the staff and the children. That is, rightly, done by those who are responsible for the building, through the local authority, which has been working with the local community about exactly what to do. To say that nothing has been done is disingenuous. I point to some of the projects that have already been undertaken through learning estate investment programme phases 1 and 2, which have dealt with some of the issues.
In the example of the Dunblane school, which is a Ministry of Defence school, the incident was not reported—either by the school, the Ministry of Defence or the Department for Education—to the Scottish Government or to any education authority in Scotland after it happened. The first time we found out about it, as Scottish Government ministers, was on 31 August. That is another very clear example of a disappointing lack of information sharing in relation to that school.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing)
SNP
The next item of business is a statement by Shirley-Anne Somerville on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. The cabinet secretary will take questions at t...
The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice (Shirley-Anne Somerville)
SNP
The Scottish Government and the wider public sector have already done much to understand the extent of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete—RAAC—issues in ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we will m...
Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con)
Con
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. It is clear that, for more than 40 years, the use of RAAC will have been widespread in cons...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
I thought that I had made it clear that our approach remains absolute reliance on expert advice from the Institution of Structural Engineers. That is importa...
Pam Duncan-Glancy (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. Earlier today, the First Minister said that the Government has known about the issue for ye...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
I am not quite sure that Pam Duncan-Glancy was listening to what was on the first couple of pages of my statement, which went through the work that has been ...
Evelyn Tweed (Stirling) (SNP)
SNP
I thank the cabinet secretary for the update on measures that the Scottish Government has taken since getting the guidance from the Institution of Structural...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
It is disappointing that we learned about the situation only on 31 August, and initially just through the media. It is important to have a frank conversation...
Craig Hoy (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
In March 2022, ministers were made aware of RAAC guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers, as the minister has said. In July 2022, learning dire...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
Again, I say that there has been no delay on this. In my statement, I spoke about some examples of the work that is being done on this at the official and mi...
Stuart McMillan (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP)
SNP
One school in my constituency is affected by RAAC, and that situation long predates devolution. Will the cabinet secretary highlight that point in her discus...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
As I said in my statement, a number of letters on the issue that have been sent to the UK Government by various members of the Cabinet are awaiting a reply. ...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
Can the cabinet secretary confirm that 254 buildings across NHS Scotland are being surveyed? When was the survey that was commissioned by NHS Scotland Assure...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
I have mentioned funding in my earlier answers and also talked about it in my statement. In reference to the number that Jackie Baillie identified, the desk ...
Fulton MacGregor (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP)
SNP
The cabinet secretary will be aware that, yesterday, North Lanarkshire Council revealed that the Pivot centre in Moodiesburn in my constituency is one of two...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
It is very important that local authorities talk about what is happening within their school estate and in their wider public sector estate. As I said in my ...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
If ministers were really across this problem, would Parliament and the public not have been told sooner that at least 40 schools and an untold number of hosp...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
I say to Alex Cole-Hamilton with the greatest respect that one of the reasons why this has not caused the same public alarm as has been caused since the Depa...
Keith Brown (Clackmannanshire and Dunblane) (SNP)
SNP
My question relates to my constituency interest in the school that has just been mentioned by Alex Cole-Hamilton, who does not represent Dunblane. RAAC issu...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
We understand that there was an issue at that MOD-run school in March 2023. It was investigated by the MOD in April and reported to the Department for Educat...
Ariane Burgess (Highlands and Islands) (Green)
Green
As we are hearing, many of the buildings affected by RAAC are owned by local authorities, from schools such as Charleston academy and Forres academy to libra...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
It is a very important point that we should work together on this issue. That is why the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and I met with the COSLA ...
Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
In the north-east, several schools—including Mackie, Westhill and Northfield academies and Abbotswell, Cornhill and Quarryhill primaries—have been confirmed ...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
The reassurance that people can be given—I say this with the greatest respect to my colleague Neil Gray and others—is that structural engineers, who are expe...
Bill Kidd (Glasgow Anniesland) (SNP)
SNP
There has been much discussion in the chamber this afternoon about who should be doing what and when, yet the reality is that, without borrowing powers, the ...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
As to how much any final bill will be, obviously that will not be able to be determined until all the structural surveys have been undertaken right across th...
Foysol Choudhury (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
West Lothian Council has been working for several years to identify and address the problem of RAAC in schools in its area. It has now been waiting nine mont...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
I thank Foysol Choudhury for that question, because it is a very important one. I appreciate that there are councils across the country that are waiting for ...