23% of schools have still not provided the information that the Department for Education needs to understand fully the extent of asbestos in school buildings and how the risks are being managed.
The Dfe launched its ‘asbestos management assurance’ process on 1 March 2018 to collect data on how asbestos in schools is being managed, and to provide assurance that academy trusts and local authorities are complying with their legal duties.
The Department asked schools to respond by 31 May 2018. Due to the poor response rate, it extended the deadline to 25 June 2018 and then extended it again to 27 July 2018. The survey was then reopened in November with a revised deadline of 15th February 2019 for those schools still to respond.
It’s unacceptable for schools and academies to ignore the request and MP’s remain seriously concerned about the Department’s lack of information and assurance about asbestos in school buildings and recommending a name and shame approach on those schools should they not reach the 12 noon on 15th February 2019 deadline and which have therefore repeatedly failed to respond to its asbestos management survey.
