§ 79 and 80. Mr. Osborneasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education (1) in view of the fact that 7,500 ceiling panels were used in the Beacon Hill School, Cleethorpes, at a cost of about £1 per panel, and that they have been found unsatisfactory only a few weeks after the school was opened, why their use was approved; what tests were applied to decide their suitability; what guarantee was given by the suppliers; and to what extent the fault is due to the panels themselves or to the method of fixing them;
(2) if he is aware that the Beacon Hill Secondary Modern School, Cleethorpes, which he opened officially earlier this month, has had to be closed owing to feared faulty construction; that pupils at the High Holme School, Louth, have been moved out of rooms with suspected ceilings, and other north Lincolnshire schools closed, and nearly 2,000 school children sent home whilst the county architects are making inspections; if he will make a statement indicating the reasons for this faulty construction; how much public money is likely to have been lost; and what action he proposes to take.
§ Sir E. BoyleThis type of ceiling has several advantages. It has good sound absorbent properties. It has been proved under test to provide valuable fire resistance and it allows easy access to services. In certain of the schools mentioned, however, a longer hanger than usual was used to suspend the panels from the146W beams, and officers of the Ministry and the local authority consider that, in these circumstances, panels might be dislodged by normal vibration. The authorities concerned are taking immediate steps to obviate this risk, and I understand that only about 350 children are now out of school. My officers have brought these facts to the notice of other authorities likely to be concerned. The cost of the additional work and the liability for meeting the cost have not yet been determined.