Collapses 'unrelated to funding'

Mr Clarke was in Leicester

The education secretary says he is very concerned by two ceiling collapses in Leicester.

However, Charles Clarke says the incidents are not linked to the issue of school funding.

Mr Clarke was in Leicester on Tuesday to open an IT suite at Leicester's Hamilton Community College.

Nearby was Kestrels' Field Primary School, which was closed on Monday when heavy rain brought down five separate areas of ceiling.

The school's finance officer Pauline Spence said: "For this to happen is quite disappointing... and a lot of the children are quite frightened."

DOUBLE TROUBLE The Caldecote collapse More ceiling troubles

A fortnight earlier, eight children were injured after a classroom ceiling collapsed at another Leicester school - Caldecote Primary - with lumps of plaster falling from the 70-year-old building on to children below.

Leicester City Council says it is facing a £32m repair backlog for its schools, which will take up to six years to sort out.

But Mr Clarke said: "Obviously it is a very alarming development (the collapses), but I am glad to say the director of education has assured me that the authority is making a very careful health and safety assessment of the situation.

"I am as conscious as anybody that schools need more money and I fight for that in various ways, but I don't think it's right to link the funding issues to these particular incidents."