Guardian analysis finds 1.6 million pupils in schools in need of repair, while some NHS sites endanger patients and staff

Back in September, before his government’s first budget, the prime minister, Keir Starmer, addressed the Trades Union Congress. “So much of our crumbling public realm – universities, councils, the care system – [are] all even worse than we expected,” he told the assembled delegates.

A Guardian analysis of the government estate in England – looking across the public sector at schools, hospitals, courts and prisons – suggests Starmer was correct to use the word “crumbling”. Other descriptors he could also have used are dilapidated, close to failure and, in some cases, posing a risk to life and safety.

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