£50m schools' backlog includes urgent health and safety work

ALMOST £50m of schools' maintenance work is back-logged in the Western Education and Library Board (WELB) area, Schools Minister Caitríona Ruane has revealed.

The back-log includes urgent work to address health and safety issues on the schools' estate.

Asked at the Stormont Assembly for details on the current back-log of school maintenance work she said the total figure across Northern Ireland was 286,903,538 with 46,410,758 in repairs required across WELB.

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She explained: "The nature of this work includes any urgent work required to address health and safety and to avoid serious deterioration of the fabric or services to the building and would be deemed to be items in very poor condition and in poor condition.

"Education and Library Boards are responsible for maintenance across the schools' estate, are working to address the backlog and have procedures in place to carefully prioritise those areas of greatest need including health and safety.

"I will continue to press the Executive for additional funding for schools' maintenance."

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