Covid-19: Educational Settings

Baroness Grey-Thompson Excerpts

Thursday 7th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, we are keenly aware of the effect that the closure of schools has, particularly on disadvantaged children. We are aware that school is a protective factor for many children and that schools are the second-largest referrers to children’s social care.

On disadvantaged children, the holiday activities fund will be in every local authority area from the Easter holidays. There is still also the winter Covid fund of £170 million until the end of March, which is being given to local authorities. That should cover any needs during February half term. The reasons the noble Lord outlined are why we have directed that schools should be in daily contact with children through the remote education they are delivering, so that any children who are struggling, particularly if they have mental health issues, can be brought into school at the discretion of the school leadership.

The Covid catch-up fund that I have outlined has been moved to remote provision. On getting data, the Renaissance Learning partnership, which is gathering information on lost time in education, is looking at how that can now be used now that we have this interruption to education again. We are keen to get the data as soon as we can.

[Baroness Grey-Thompson (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I draw your attention to my registered interests. The Government are indeed under great pressure, but we know that many children’s health is adversely affected during the usual six-week summer holiday by lack of access to PE. Home educating our children is not easy and, taking into account current restrictions, physical activity might be inadvertently dropped. The Prime Minister repeatedly talks about the importance of exercise, which is fantastic, but what advice will Her Majesty’s Government give to those schools, children and families moving to online learning to help them know what they need to do to remain active and to think about their long-term health?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness raises a very important point; we are aware that many children are living in accommodation with no outside space and limited indoor space. The guidance we published today is obviously for children in school—the full curriculum—so that will cover PE as well as everything else, and there is now a requirement for remote PE lessons with children. There are also links to the advice from Sport England on activity, and it is important to emphasise for everybody that the guidance enables households to get out once a day for exercise. It is very important that families do that.

Daily contact with children is not just about whether they are engaging with the content; it is also about how they are. As the noble Baroness will be aware—I have seen this with children I know—you can sometimes see from their pallor that they are not getting enough activity. This is something to do with well-being that we expect staff to monitor in the children they teach.