MPs have rejected calls for a national digital register of asbestos in schools, arguing it could “undermine” efforts to comply with existing laws on identifying and locating the toxic material.
The cross-party Education Committee was responding to a government report addressing longstanding concerns about the condition of school buildings in England.
The committee of eleven Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs explained: “The existing legal requirement set out in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 requires duty holders to identify and locate asbestos within their premises and share this information with everyone who may possibly, in the course of their work activity, be at risk of exposure to asbestos.”
“This existing information would be duplicated in a new central digital register of asbestos in non-domestic buildings, which would require significant resource from duty holders and government to implement, with no clear evidence that asbestos exposure risks would be reduced.
“It could also undermine the active requirement on duty holders to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises on an ongoing basis,” they added.
However, MPs stressed that the government’s long-term goal remains the development of an asbestos removal strategy.
Rather than beginning with schools, the HSE will support this work by carrying out a ‘census’-style survey to assess the scale of asbestos initially in offices for civil servants, courthouses and laboratories within the central government estate.
Thousands of pupils were forced into remote learning or moved to temporary classrooms in August 2023, when over 100 school buildings were closed after the HSE said RAAC had “expired” and was at risk of collapse.
Teaching unions have been urging the government to treat asbestos as seriously and urgently as RAAC concrete.