Labour condemns Tom Hunt as Conservative MP votes to “keep parents in the dark” about crumbling local schools
Jack Abbott, the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Ipswich today lambasted current Conservative MP Tom Hunt for “voting to keep parents in the dark” about the extent of disrepair in local schools after a debate in the House of Commons.
The comments came following an attempt by the Labour Party to force the publication of information about the true state of England’s 24,000 school buildings almost two years after the School Buildings Condition Survey revealed “alarming” problems within the school estate.
Tom Hunt was among 296 MPs who voted against Labour’s motion to uncover this data.
The news comes as official data from the Department of Education showed that there are 3,000 building components that have major defects, with nearly 300 schools in Suffolk affected. Of those, 90 schools were given the worst possible rating.
Schools with buildings in “poor” or “bad” condition require urgent repairs, but local families have not been told the scale of disrepair or when the buildings would be fixed.
An internal government report leaked to the Observer newspaper in May 2022 revealed that school buildings in England are now in such disrepair they posed a “risk to life”. At the same time, Jack Abbott and the Labour Party raised the alarm locally in Suffolk, but a year on, the Government is still refusing to reveal the full extent of the problems.
The Department for Education subsequently raised the risk of school buildings collapsing from “critical” to “critical – very likely” in its annual report in December 2022, after an increase in serious structural issues was reported.
Despite assurances given to Labour in Parliament that further data detailing the precise condition of individual buildings would be published by the end of 2022, the Schools Minister backtracked, refusing to give a date for publication when questioned in the House of Commons earlier this year.
The Conservatives have failed to get to grips with the crumbling state of school building since then Education Secretary Michael Gove gave a public apology for cancelling Labour’s Building Schools for the Future Programme.
Jack Abbott, Labour and Co-operative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Ipswich, said:
“For two years, Conservative Ministers have pulled the wool over parents’ eyes instead of telling them the truth about the real state of their children’s school buildings. What are they trying to hide?
“Years of Conservative neglect of the school estate means that children in Suffolk could face disruption to learning as well as direct threats to their safety.
“The Government’s last assessment revealed that more than 3,000 building components have major defects with nearly 300 schools in Suffolk affected. Of those, 90 schools were given the worst possible rating. This means that parts of buildings were at a “serious risk of imminent failure”, and that “immediate” repairs were needed.
“Tom Hunt and his Conservative colleagues had a choice: show they’re on the side of parents, or hide behind a government that wants to keep families in the dark about the safety of school buildings. They chose the latter.”