Covid-19: Schools

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, I join the noble Lord in paying tribute to all the teachers and support staff who have, during this period, kept most of our schools open for vulnerable children and the children of critical care workers. The department has indeed, at both ministerial and official levels, been consulting and engaging with the unions, mostly on a daily basis, to ensure that their views are put forward in the difficult decisions that we have to make about reopening schools.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, government statistics show that 75,000 vulnerable children were at school on 21 May, yet 80% of schools were open, so we know that not all places that have been on offer have been taken up. We also know about the distribution of tablets, but what plans do the Government have to ensure digital interconnections for pupils over the summer, particularly those who live in poverty or are in rural areas, where there is real difficulty with some broadband connections?

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is correct that about 15% of vulnerable children were in school at the end of that half-term and the numbers had been rising. On the provision of laptops, for those who do not have connectivity they will come with 4G wireless to try to get over some of those issues. All schools have been offered free expert technical help to enable them to access Google Classroom or Microsoft 365 Education, but of course we have also worked closely with the BBC for those children whose only access might be through the television. BBC Bitesize has been hugely successful, with more than 2 million households visiting that service in the first two weeks. In discussions with leaders of academy trusts, it is clear that many teachers and support staff have been delivering printed worksheets to students to ensure that they can access education.