Letter to the SoS for Education - Addressing 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.

You can find the full letter below:

7 November 2025

The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP

Secretary of State

Department for Education

By email: Sec-OF-STATE.PS@education.gov.uk 

Dear Secretary of State,

RE: Addressing the presence of Asbestos in school buildings

The co-signatories of this letter welcome your recent announcement that every school in England with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) will be remediated by 2029. This decisive step is very much needed. However, we would respectfully ask that you also use this opportunity to address a parallel and long-standing risk: the presence of Asbestos in school buildings.

Asbestos remains in a large proportion of our school estate and continues to pose serious health risks to both staff and pupils. The Department’s own Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) survey, which guides refurbishment and replacement decisions, continues to exclude asbestos risk, despite the occupational evidence: teaching professionals face mesothelioma risk rates many times higher than tradespeople, while pupils are known to be at an even greater risk. Considering this, it makes little sense to prioritise one structural risk (RAAC) without simultaneously tackling the other.

By aligning the RAAC remediation programme with a systematic asbestos removal initiative—supported by updated CDC2 criteria that factor in asbestos hazards—the Government has the chance to deliver a truly safe, future-proof school estate.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss how this might be achieved, and to demonstrate how analysis of asbestos in buildings, undertaken by Asbestos Information CIC, can enable a national database for all schools, like those introduced in other countries (see Asbestos in Schools in the Netherlands).

Yours sincerely,

Charles Pickles, Founder of Airtight on Asbestos

John Richards, Asbestos Information CIC

Liz Darlison, CEO Mesothelioma UK

Daniel Kebede, General Secretary, NEU

Richard Blunt, Campaigner and Mesothelioma UK Ambassador

Saranjit Kaur, Campaigner

Mark Morrin, ResPublica