More than 100 schools and colleges have been told by the Department for Education to partially or fully close buildings just as pupils prepare to return after the summer holidays.

Though not confirmed, it is estimated that some 24 schools in England have been told to close entirely due to the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

None of the schools are understood to be in Brighton and Hove or West Sussex.

However, West Sussex County Council is organising a physical inspection of all schools built between 1930 and 2000 that are maintained by the council.

A spokeswoman for the authority said: “West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is aware of the RAAC issue and has already completed a review of records for WSCC-maintained schools.

“No WSCC-maintained schools have been identified from records as containing any indicating RAAC construction and, to provide added confidence, physical inspections of all maintained school blocks constructed between 1930 and 2000 is being commissioned.

“We can confirm no West Sussex County Council maintained schools will be immediately shutting due to this issue.”

Schools minister and MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton Nick Gibb said the collapse of a beam which had been considered safe sparked an urgent rethink on whether buildings with aerated concrete could remain open.

It is unclear whether the collapse happened at a school in England.

Schools minister Nick Gibb sought to reassure parents (Image: Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

Mr Gibb sought to reassure parents and told GB News: “Parents can be confident that if they’ve not been contacted by their school, it is safe to send children back into school.”

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, who is also MP for Chichester, stressed the government’s commitment to safety and said: “Nothing is more important than making sure children and staff are safe in schools and colleges, which is why we are acting on new evidence about RAAC now, ahead of the start of term.”

RAAC is a lightweight building material used from the 1950s until the mid-1990s but is now assessed to be at risk of collapse.

The Department for Education had been considering RAAC as a potential issue since late 2018 but the timing of the decision to issue guidance days before the start of term has angered some unions.

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “It is absolutely disgraceful and a sign of gross government incompetence that a few days before the start of term 104 schools are finding out that some or all of their buildings are unsafe and cannot be used.”

Brighton and Hove City Council has confirmed that no schools it maintains are affected by the closures.

Councillor Jacob Taylor, who co-chairs the council’s children, families and schools committee, said: “We have previously conducted an assessment of possible RAAC in school roofs and did not find any. We sent our findings to the Department for Education.

“The Department for Education has not contacted us recently about this issue and we are not aware of any of our schools having been contacted directly by them either.

“If the Department for Education had any concerns about schools in the city, we are sure that they would have contacted either the council or the individual schools by now.”

Brighton MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle criticised the govenment for the handling of the issue (Image: BBC Parliament)

Lloyd Russell-Moyle, MP for Brighton Kemptown, described the situation as a “mess of the government’s making”.

He said: “Unlike Brighton and Hove City Council, who have done surveys on this issue to secure its schools, authorities up and down the country have followed the government guidance which has been slow or non-existent.

“At the 11th hour, they have closed hundreds of schools without publishing a list for parents and local authorities to even make provisions against, creating chaos for families up and down the country.

“This is a mess from a government whose time is up in office and will be just another sign that we need a new government with a new schools building programme sooner rather than later.”

Although East Sussex County Council has yet to state whether any schools it maintains will have to close, Lewes MP Maria Caulfield told The Argus that no schools in her constituency have been identified as having the issue.

East Sussex County Council has been approached for comment.