Asbestos is rife in south east schools

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is to carry out a survey of asbestos in schools in Britain, after it was revealed that most state schools in the south east contain the killer fibre.

An investigation by the BBC TV’s Inside Out South East found that most state school buildings in south east England contain asbestos. Information obtained through Freedom of Information requests found that there is asbestos in more than 90% of schools, with Kent, Medway, Sussex, Brighton and Surrey councils the worst affected.

Robin Howie, an independent asbestos consultant, told the programme that the number of teachers dying of asbestos-related diseases in the UK had risen from about one every two years to more than five a year.

The NUT teachers’ union called for all asbestos to be removed from all schools.