The scandal of 1.5m pupils stuck in dilapidated schools

More than 1.5 million children are studying in dilapidated school buildings, a Guardian investigation has found, with years of under-investment leaving England's public infrastructure in a crumbling state.

- Michael Goodier, Kiran Stacey

A study of the state of public sector buildings, including hospitals, schools and courts, has found thousands are in need of urgent repair, with conditions so bad in many that they are endangering lives.

One school in Cumbria was evacuated because inspectors found the floor could collapse at any moment. At a hospital in Sutton, south-west London, the Guardian found masking tape holding windows in place, and mud seeping through the floor.

The investigation combines data from government departments for the first time, and has prompted calls for ministers to spend hundreds of millions of pounds more to carry out immediate improvements.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative chair of the cross-party public accounts committee, said: "Our committee has long warned of the short-term thinking and decision-making in government that has inexorably led to the miasma of rot rising over our public realm.

"Some hospitals are in a desperate state, with props having to be used to hold up floors - some of which cannot even bear the weight of patients."

He added: "Proper maintenance of public buildings cannot continue to be seen as a non-urgent matter of leaky roofs and draughty rooms. Far from an abstract issue, these are problems of the gravest concern that can cause snowballing additional costs."

Ministers blame the previous government for underspending on public buildings for years, with departments regularly raiding capital budgets to help pay for day-to-day spending.