Hansard

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 ...