110 schools across Edinburgh contain asbestos
During Education and Skills portfolio questions yesterday at the Scottish Parliament, Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs asked the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills Jenny Gilruth, about the safety of schools in Scotland.
Mr Briggs said how it is critical that this government and councils acts as quickly as possible to remove asbestos from the Scottish schools estate to ensure that pupils, teachers and staff across Scotland are learning and working in a safe environment.
Across the Lothians 241 schools contain asbestos – 110 in Edinburgh (details below), 31 in East Lothian, 18 in Midlothian and 82 in West Lothian. In the last year, 58 schools had asbestos removed – 20 in Edinburgh, 0 in Midlothian, 38 in West Lothian and East Lothian declined to provide the information.
The Scottish Conservatives have previously criticised the SNP for continuing to pass on “savage” cuts to local authorities, meaning schools don’t have the resources to remove asbestos from school buildings.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills of Scotland, herself a former teacher, was asked “what progress has the Scottish Government made in removing asbestos from schools, what impact assessment has been undertaken to look at where currently asbestos is in the school estate and where this will be removed and what timescale will government develop to make sure this happens”.
In response, Ms. Gilruth acknowledged the importance of the issue and said: “Obviously a number of the schools that we are talking about are historically old buildings, I confess that the last building that I worked in, over in Fife, had asbestos in it.
“It is soon to be replaced by a brand new building thanks to this government. I think that’s hugely important as we move forward in improving the school estate, but we will need to recognise some of the challenge here”.
Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said: “The danger of asbestos is common knowledge.
“Despite this we still have over 240 schools in across Lothian which still contain this hazardous material.
“It is vital that pupils, teachers and staff across Scotland are learning and working in a safe environment.
“Continued underfunding of local authorities by SNP Ministers makes it extremely difficult for council to carry out the necessary work in our school estates to remove asbestos.”
The TUC has highlighted the dangers of asbestos today, International Workers Memorial Day. Asbestos is the biggest cause of work-related deaths in Britain.
TUC’s Sally Asquith said: “Schools are some of the most likely buildings to contain asbestos, but also the most obvious site for safe removal.
“Many schools desperately need repair or replacing anyway: the Department for Education has admitted a serious risk of collapse in many school buildings. We know more than 90 per cent of schools contain asbestos, and that the rate of mesothelioma diagnoses among former teachers is rising rapidly, so the need for removal is urgent. In the past six months alone, four schools in England had to close after asbestos was disturbed.
“As well as providing adequate support, and research, for those affected, the only real way to prevent asbestos-related illness in the long term is to remove the substance once and for all.
“Only by removing asbestos from all public buildings can we avoid future risk of exposure and stop the thousands of early – and entirely preventable – deaths from this dreadful, fatal illness.”
#IWMD
Edinburgh
A total of 110 schools contain asbestos:
Nursery/EYC – 21
Primary – 73
High School – 12
Special – 4
We have removed asbestos from 20 schools since 1st April 2022.
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