A Plaid Cymru investigation has revealed that there is a schools maintenance backlog of over half a billion pounds in Wales.

A series of FOI requests from Plaid has revealed that the total maintenance backlog of Welsh schools is at least £543,249,362.54.

A total of 17 local authorities which held the relevant data responded to the requests, meaning an average backlog of £31,955,844.90 per local authority.

Following comments from the Cabinet Secretary for Education, in which she revealed that the Welsh Government does not collect the data on maintenance backlogs within schools, Plaid Cymru launched a series of FOI requests to ascertain the severity of the issue in Wales.

The requests coincide with a NASUWT survey showed that 48% of teachers in Wales believed that the condition of their school buildings has ‘deteriorated or greatly deteriorated’ over the last three years.

Plaid Cymru’s investigation also revealed at least 320 schools, almost a quarter of schools in Wales, have a total urgent maintenance backlog of £93,886,111.71.

In the Cabinet Secretary for Educations’ constituency of Torfaen, 31 of 32 schools in the local authority require urgent maintenance totalling £3,710,995.

Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru’s Education spokesperson, and Senedd Member for Mid and West Wales has accused the Welsh Government of failing pupils and teachers across Wales by not providing them with a safe environment to learn.

He continues by saying that falling standards and crumbling school buildings is Labour’s legacy after 25 years of failing our learners, teachers, and parents in Wales.

Plaid Cymru has now called for a full and detailed national survey to properly assess the condition of school buildings in Wales to get to the root of the issue facing school buildings in Wales.

Mr Campbell, said: “Half a billion pounds. That is the bill faced by our schools and local authorities after 25 years of Labour negligence.

“The dire condition of our school estates in Wales encapsulates Labour’s record on education after 25 years. A record of neglect, of apathy and of letting our young people down.

“School buildings are a crucial part of our education system; they are buildings that should provide an environment that is safe for teachers and learners. A safe place to learn is the bare minimum a government should be offering our future generation, and Labour are failing at this and are letting our students down.

“It seems that Labour are determined to abandon our education sector in as many ways as possible. Recently we have seen them waving the white flag in the face of a funding crisis in our universities, we have seen an Estyn report highlighting the inherent problems with their recruitment strategies, and now we find out that they have been allowing our schools to fall to pieces – literally.

“The fact that all bar one of the schools in the Cabinet Secretary’s own constituency need urgent maintenance is frankly incredulous. It truly represents the scale of Labour’s negligence when it comes to providing a learning environment where our learners and teachers can thrive.

“It is worrying that this figure of over half a billion is only the bare minimum of the total repair bill faced by Welsh schools. The actual bill is likely to be much higher as some local authorities, unbelievably, do not even have this data.

“This is why we need a full and detailed national survey of this issue, to get a clear picture of the crisis that our schools face. It’s clear that Labour cannot be trusted running our education system. It’s time to give our schools a fresh start – with a Plaid Cymru Government,” he added.