Statement on Lancashire schools

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said:

"There are no safety concerns at this time relating to presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the 303 maintained schools the county council is responsible for.

"As a precautionary measure, we are carrying out detailed surveys on a small number of older schools that have had extensions and aim to have these concluded by the end of this week.

"This is in addition to visual surveys carried out by us earlier this year at a number of maintained schools where a possible presence RAAC was identified.

"The Department for Education (DfE) is leading on the national investigation and is liaising directly with schools where a Diocese or Multi Academy Trust is the responsible body.

"We were made aware over the weekend that the Lancaster Diocese has instructed Our Lady’s Catholic High School in Fulwood to close for two days pending further investigation. 

“The presence of RAAC has been identified in some areas of the school. While we are not the responsible body for the school, we will work with the Diocese should they require support with this matter.

“We have also been made aware that Fulwood Academy has closed for two days to allow it to undertake a new survey of the building, although no RAAC has yet to be identified and we understand the closure is precautionary.

"Parents will be contacted by their school if their school is impacted by this issue."