Education: Return in January Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDaisy Cooper
Main Page: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)Department Debates - View all Daisy Cooper's debates with the Department for Education
(3 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberI often agree with my hon. Friend, and I do not disagree with him on this occasion. Obviously, we have to prioritise decisions on vaccinations, taking into account a whole raft of areas. The key thing is prioritising those people who are most clinically vulnerable, but as we get through that stage of clinical need, I certainly hope that we can look at how we can vaccinate those who are in the teaching profession and who support education.
We are in a race against time to stop a new catastrophe of educational inequality. Some children have lost more than six months of learning and some schools still cannot access the covid workforce budget because of absurd criteria. It is shocking that only half of digital devices have been delivered and that mass testing is being rolled out only four months after school has returned. When will the Secretary of State give schools the rota powers, the funding, the devices and the trust that they need and deserve to stay open safely?
We had announced the additional £78 million of funding just before the Christmas period in order to help and assist in the roll-out of a mass testing regime in all secondary schools. We announced the distribution of an extra half a million devices on the half a million that had already been distributed just the other week. If the hon. Lady had listened to my statement, she would have heard that we are planning to distribute 50,000 on 4 January and another 100,000 over the following week. I am sure that, at some point, she will look at my statement in detail and pay attention to it.