Minister confronted with asbestos 'timebomb'

Wednesday, 25 March 2009 12:00 AM

By Alex Stevenson

Schools minister Jim Knight will respond to concerns from a Liberal Democrat MP about the "ticking timebomb" of low-level asbestos in schools later.

Up to 90 per cent of schools have asbestos within the fabric of their buildings and there are concerns from some quarters the government is not prepared to remove it because of cost concerns.

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen wants the government to agree to an audit of 100 schools across the country to establish how serious the problem is.

Listen to Paul Rowen explain why more needs to be done to address asbestos in schools:

While high-risk asbestos has been addressed as a problem - Harriet Harman told the Commons today the government was determined to address the "tragedy" of work-related deaths and diseases - there has not yet been any significant research into the problem.

"I was a deputy head of a secondary school. Nobody gave me any training, advice, told me what I should or shouldn't do, yet when things happen headteachers are the people responsible," Mr Rowen told politics.co.uk before the debate.

"Most local authorities know where the asbestos is. They know where it's supposedly being managed. But when you look at it there's a very patchy picture across the country in terms of the expertise that local authorities have got."

There have been 198 known deaths among teachers from asbestos and, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers union, at least 400 teachers have contracted asbestos-related diseases.

"It's hugely emotive," Mr Rowen added. "You have people working long-term in an environment for which they are potentially at risk. I will be giving an example today of a Dorset teacher who's worked for 28 years in Dorset schools. She's now contracted mesothelioma. She could only have got that from exposure in her working environment which is her school."

Mr Rowen said successive governments had placed responsibility for dealing with asbestos issues on local authorities.

The overall number of deaths from mesothelioma is expected to rise from its average of 3,000 a year at present to up to 4,500 within the next ten years.

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• schools