DfE Response to our letter regarding the presence of Asbestos in school buildings

On 7th November 2025, Airtight on Asbestos, Asbestos Information CIC, the National Education Union, and Mesothelioma UK, alongside independent campaigners, wrote to the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, requesting the alignment of the Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) remediation programme, with a systematic asbestos removal initiative. This would ensure that the Government delivers a truly safe, future-proof school estate.

We received a tone-deaf email from an unnamed official. This was entirely expected but nonetheless depressing. It offered a patronising explanation of what we already know about the responsibilities of duty holders in the maintenance of asbestos and that the HSE (not the DfE) is responsible for compliance with regulation.

From this correspondence one might infer that central government, and the DfE in particular, has a very limited role and even less policy interest in the problems of asbestos in schools. The reply did not answer our basic question about aligning the RAAC remediation programme with a systematic asbestos removal initiative. Merely restating what we already know about their plans for RAAC.

Below you can see the Department for Education's Estates Correspondence Team response in full:

Dear signatories,

I am writing on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education to thank you for your email of 7 November about asbestos in schools. Further to the department’s email of 28 November, we have now considered the points you raise.

The department recognises the seriousness of asbestos risk in the school estate. However, the legal responsibility for identifying, managing and remediating asbestos rests with the statutory duty holders who control school premises, not with central government.

Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, the duty to manage asbestos lies with the employer or the person in control of the premises. In practice this is ordinarily the governing body of, or local authority responsible for, a maintained school, the academy trust or other responsible body.

The department does not own or directly control the vast majority of school buildings and is therefore not the asbestos duty holder in law. The department does set expectations on the state of repair of school buildings for school providers by publishing guidance, facilitation of capital funding and data collection programmes; this is to fulfil its primary function, the delivery of education. This does not, however, mean the department has assumed legal responsibility for the operational safety of school premises. Fundamentally, at law, operational responsibility remains with those who run, own, and manage school premises.

The department does have legislative powers of intervention in certain circumstances and applicable to certain responsible bodies. The exercise of these powers will be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the circumstances, as is appropriate. The role of monitoring and enforcement of the legislative duties relating to asbestos management falls with the regulator, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

The HSE https://www.hse.gov.uk sets the strategy, policy and legal framework for health and safety in Great Britain. As the health and safety regulator the HSE sets the legal requirements and standards to manage asbestos and produces guidance for those responsible for a building’s maintenance or repair as “asbestos duty holders”.

Duty holders responsible for asbestos management in school buildings include each school’s responsible body (for example, academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary aided bodies). Responsible bodies as duty holders must comply with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, regulated by HSE. This includes having a robust asbestos management plan in place and maintaining a comprehensive asbestos register. DfE works with the HSE to be proactive in promoting good asbestos management in schools.

Management planning arrangements at any school should be specific to its needs and circumstances and prevent disturbance of any asbestos-containing materials that a survey identifies. The school's plan needs to contain provisions to ensure that information about the location and condition of asbestos-containing materials is given to anyone who might disturb these materials, such as tradespeople or caretakers undertaking maintenance. The duty holder should also ensure that staff likely to disturb asbestos are suitably trained.

Our ‘Managing Asbestos in your School or College’ guidance was updated most recently in March 2025 < https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/managing-asbestos-in-your-school-or-college> and includes practical examples and case studies alongside compliance requirements, effective practice, and where schools and responsible bodies can find further advice on their duty to manage in the context of education settings.

As a department, we follow the expert advice of the regulator HSE, that, provided asbestos-containing materials are in good condition, and unlikely to be disturbed, it is usually safer to leave them in place and manage them; otherwise, all asbestos-containing materials that are damaged must be repaired, protected, sealed or removed.

Funding for asbestos removal works in schools is covered by several different capital funding programmes, which may include removing or encapsulating asbestos where appropriate. In many cases asbestos will be removed as part of wider rebuilding, refurbishment, or repair work, including projects delivered by the Department, such as the School Rebuilding Programme, or delivered by responsible bodies, such as local authorities or academy trusts.

Until schools are replaced or refurbished, the department will continue to follow the HSE's advice, that as long as asbestos-containing materials are in good condition, and not in locations where they are vulnerable to damage, they can be left undisturbed, and their condition monitored.

The department has been clear, though, that when asbestos does pose a risk to safety and cannot be effectively managed in place, then it should be removed. Where a school is found to have serious safety issues that risk closure of a building and which cannot be managed within existing resources, the department provides support and advice on a case-by-case basis.

The government has given a long-term commitment for capital investment through to 2034-35 to improve the condition of schools and colleges across England - investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034-35 in capital maintenance and renewal, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025-26. This is in addition to investment in continuing and expanding the School Rebuilding Programme, with a further 250 schools to be selected within the next two years.

Our aim is that every school and college in England that isn’t being fully or substantially rebuilt will be RAAC free, by the end of this Parliament. RAAC will be removed either through grant funding or the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP). Permanently removing RAAC may involve refurbishment of existing buildings or rebuilding affected buildings. Management of the works to remove RAAC is managed by the responsible body (RB) for grant funded projects, or for SRP it is managed as part of the SRP programme. All schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC are providing full-time face-to-face education for all pupils.

The HSE also provides advice to duty holders on selecting a competent asbestos surveyor <The duty to manage asbestos in buildings: Arrange an asbestos survey - HSE> Older buildings, such as those built post-war between 1945 and the 1970s, often need careful maintenance and monitoring, including system-built structures like the CLASP method.  

The HSE therefore publishes specific Guidance on the management of asbestos in system build premises < Guidance for duty holders ‘CLASP’ Asbestos in Schools Working Group> so that schools and responsible bodies as duty holders are aware of any associated risks with this construction type. 

Essentially, schools should have sensible plans that are kept up to date and acted upon. Where the HSE has undertaken inspections of schools it has found that most have good standards for managing asbestos in their buildings. Where the Department becomes aware of any issues with schools meeting asbestos management requirements, it shares information with the HSE. 

The HSE is considering how best they can build an objective and reliable evidence base to better understand the strategic risk profile of asbestos in the built environment and inform any decisions about the future pace of removal.

Yours sincerely,

Education Estates Correspondence Team