Conservative MP secures pledge from Prime Minister over school built by Caledonian Modular
News / Thu 5th Sep 2024 at 09:03am
A CONSERVATIVE MP has secured a pledge from the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, that the schools minister will visit his constituency to discuss a school built by Caledonian Modular.
A number of schools across the country built by Caledonian Modular have had to be demolished including Sir Frederick Gibberd College in Harlow.
The schools minister is Catherine McKinnell.
The question by MP for Bridgwater, Sir Ashley Fox and response by Sir Keir Starmer is below.
Click below for our archive on stories relating to SFG College and Caledonian Modular.
CH - SFG parent
2024-09-05 10:34:26
SFG not demolished as yet, I'd welcome efforts to have the new school building ready in less than 3 years from now as is planned. We've been a year without a permanent building so far already making it a planned 4 years in total!! why is it taking so long considering it is a government fault? Our children have already been disadvantaged as a result, not as a result of all of the teaching staff who have gone above and beyond to minimise impact on their education and should be applauded; the year 11 cohort just finished did not have their disadvantage recognised in their GCSE exams at all despite parents asking the DFE for consideration even for extra time in the exams. Time out travelling between schools for exams/practicals for this year group meant missing out on key curriculum being taught for some. It certainly made succeeding more challenging. I'd love to see minimum disruption to the students and staff by having the new building rebuilt ASAP, they've all been through more than enough already. Cut the red tape and make a wrong a right I say.
David Forman
2024-09-05 11:04:01
As the Grenfell Inquiry has shown, allowing developers to pick and choose who conducts building control and materials testing is a route to disaster. All building control should be under local authority control. All building materials testing and certification should be performed by a new nationalised Building Research Establishment (BRE) at Watford. The once government controlled BRE was privatised in March 1997 by the John Major led Tory government. The following article explains: https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/grenfell-report-exposes-bre-post-privatisation-failings#:~:text=The%20Building%20Research%20Establishment,-%E2%80%9CBRE%20held%20a&text=Having%20begun%20life%20as%20a,investigations%2C%20reports%20and%20experimental%20work.
David Forman
2024-09-05 11:16:42
The Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 Overview Executive Summary exposes how commercial interests gain precedence over professional integrity when certification processes are privatised: "Senior BRE staff gave advice to customers such as Kingspan and Celotex on the best way to satisfy the criteria for a system to be considered safe, thereby compromising its integrity and independence. In some cases we saw evidence of a desire to accommodate existing customers and to retain its status within the industry at the expense of maintaining the rigour of its processes and considerations of public safety. The unprofessional behaviour of some of BRE’s staff was in part the result of a failure to provide them with adequate training in their responsibilities." See page 8 of https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/sites/default/files/CCS0923434692-004_GTI%20Phase%202_Report%20Overview_E-Laying_0.pdf
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