The Education Secretary has told Sky News she “didn’t know” £32m was being spent on refurbishing her department’s headquarters – as pressure mounts on the government over the discovery of unstable concrete in some schools.
More than 100 schools will have to partially or fully close due to safety fears over reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) amid a growing row over funding to pay for the essential repairs.
It comes as a multi-million-pound refurbishment is being carried out at the Department for Education’s (DfE) Westminster headquarters.
When asked by Sky News’ Kay Burley whether she spent £32m on her offices, Gillian Keegan said: “I don’t know, actually. I didn’t. I haven’t done it. Which offices?”
When told it was at her offices, the education secretary added: “I know that when I was last in the department, I was on a different floor and I know they are refurbishing some of them. I wasn’t involved in that.
“I guess there’s some maintenance requirements that they had on there. I wasn’t part of that decision to be honest, but I’ll check when I get back.
“I know that I’m in a different floor than we used to be in, so I guess they’re refurbishing aspects of the building.”
When asked if it was good optics to spend so much money on offices when safety fears are growing over crumbling schools, she added: “I don’t know what the condition of the offices – we could have been dealing with other issues within the offices – but I will look at it when I get back.”
Refurbishment across six department floors
Willmott Dixon Interiors is carrying out the work at Sanctuary Buildings as part of a project its website says is expected to last 116 weeks to “provide” more modern and efficient office space across six refurbished floors.
The work includes stripping out the 1990s interior to make the headquarters “fit for purpose for years to come” with “improved lighting, superior acoustic properties and a muted colour palette”.
In an update this summer, the firm’s website said work is “nearing completion” on floors seven and eight to provide a “light and airy working environment” with floors four and six “scheduled to follow”.
The project is due to continue into 2024 “due to the number of floors that are being refurbished”.
It also comes as a former senior official at the DfE claimed Rishi Sunak refused to fully fund a programme to rebuild England’s crumbling schools when he was chancellor.
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The schools we know are affected by concrete safety risk
Risk of school collapse causing death or injury ‘very likely’
Jonathan Slater, who was permanent secretary at the DfE from May 2016 to August 2020, said the Treasury had failed to fully fund vital schemes – but Mr Sunak claimed the accusations were “completely and utterly wrong”.
Mr Slater said up to 400 schools a year need to be replaced, but the DfE only received funding for 100 while he was the senior official, which was “frustrating”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The actual ask in the Spending Review of 2021 was to double the 100 to 200 – that’s what we thought was going to be practical at first instance.
“I thought we’d get it, but the actual decision that the chancellor took in 2021 was to halve the size of the programme.”
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