Tristram Hunt MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, has today written to Nicky Morgan about the review of the management of asbestos in schools.

The full text of the letter is below:

11 March 2015

Dear Nicky,

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Government is trying to bury the findings of your Department’s review of the management of asbestos in schools.

The consultation on this review ended a year ago. Since then, there have been several opportunities for the Government to come clean on its findings, yet Ministers have repeatedly tried to kick the report into the long grass. Today we find out that the Prime Minister himself is refusing to set out a timetable for publication before the dissolution of Parliament.

The Labour Party has made repeat calls for the Government to make the findings public. On January 15^th this year, David Laws MP, Minister for Schools, wrote that the Department ‘expects to provide an update on the management of asbestos in schools before the end of February 2015’.

That has not happened.

Instead, the Prime Minister today, during Prime Minister’s Questions, told the House of Commons that the Government ‘will publish [the review] in due course and action will have to be taken.’

The confusion that is being caused by the Government’s handling of this review does a disservice to children, parents, teachers, heads and all other support staff working in schools. I am concerned that the issue is not being given the due attention that it deserves by Ministers. Mesothelioma claims two and a half thousand lives in this country each year. Responses to recent Freedom of Information requests submitted to local authorities have revealed that 86 per cent of UK schools contain asbestos.

Please can you write to me with answers to the following questions, as a matter of urgency:

·         Has the review been completed? If no, why has it not been completed given the Department’s consultation on this ended a year ago? If yes, what is causing the delay to its publication?

·         Have you had sight of the findings of the review yet?

·         Have you or any of your Ministers or advisers given any instruction to civil servants on the publication date of the review?

·         Will you reaffirm your commitment to publishing this review before the dissolution of Parliament?

The presence of asbestos in schools is a troubling and complicated issue. However, we must be absolutely sure that government is taking every possible step to prevent exposure to asbestos for all pupils, parents and staff working in our schools.

I look forward to receiving your response.

Yours sincerely,

Tristram Hunt