Oral Answers to Questions
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 3 months ago)
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David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)
The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
We have worked with the sector on the steps it needed to take following the transition period. This included questions around participation in European Union programmes, migration and student support arrangements. We are replacing the European social fund via the UK shared prosperity fund and introducing the new Turing scheme.
Patricia Gibson [V]
Before Brexit, EU students contributed £1.2 billion to the UK economy annually, boosting the profile of UK universities globally and helping to support the pipeline of talented science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates and medical graduates. With the reality of excessively high international student fees, many EU students will choose to study elsewhere, so how will the Secretary of State ensure that the Turing scheme, a poor replacement for Erasmus, is as effective in encouraging inward student mobility?
Gavin Williamson
The Turing scheme is not a poor replacement, but a brilliant replacement for Erasmus. It is about us looking around the globe as to how we can expand opportunities for students. Yes, there are many, many brilliant higher education student institutes right across Europe, but there are so many more right across the world, whether in the United States or Canada, whether in India or China or whether in Australia and so many other places. That is what we are going to be giving young people the opportunity to release, and they will have the opportunity to go and study there as well.
David Linden [V]
Under the Horizon 2020 programme, the UK consistently received more money out than it put in. Under the terms of this agreement, the UK is set to receive no more than it contributes. While universities in Scotland were relieved to see a commitment to Horizon Europe in the joint agreement, what additional funding will the Secretary of State make available to ensure that our overall level of research funding is maintained?
Gavin Williamson
As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, the Government have been very clear in our commitment to research. The Prime Minister has stated time and time again that our investment in research is absolutely there, ensuring that we deliver Britain as a global scientific superpower. That is why more money has been going into research, and universities will continue to play an incredibly important role in that, but as he will be aware, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy manages the research element that goes into the funding of universities.
Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab) [V]
The anxiety caused by the lack of answers on the impact of the end of transition upon students is only adding to the anxiety that they already feel because of the impact that covid-19 has had on their educational experience, their finances and their graduate job prospects, which is all made worse by the fact that students do not feel that their voice is being heard by Government. Perhaps the greatest injustice of them all, they feel, is being made to pay rent for accommodation that the Secretary of State has mandated they should not use. What is he going to do to right this wrong?
Gavin Williamson
As the hon. Lady will know, before Christmas we set out plans to support youngsters who were going to be facing the greatest hardship. We continue to keep this under review, and we will continue to work with the sector to provide the best support to students up and down the land.
Danny Kruger (Devizes) (Con)
Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
Teachers and leaders are working incredibly hard, making tremendous efforts to provide and to improve their high- quality remote education. We have set clear strengthened expectations for schools and further education providers, and our “Get help with remote education” page on gov.uk provides a range of support, training and good practice for schools and parents to look at.
Danny Kruger [V]
All schools are under huge pressure, delivering teaching both in class and online at the same time, and many are doing an absolutely fantastic job. However, some parents are naturally worried that their children are not getting as much direct live teaching as pupils at other schools they have heard about, and they have a right to understand why. Does my right hon. Friend agree that parents should challenge their school directly and discuss their concerns with the head of the governing body and that making a complaint to Ofsted, as Ministers have suggested they do, should only be the last resort?
Gavin Williamson
Absolutely. We have always been clear—and I stated this to the House just a couple of weeks ago—that we encourage parents, in the first instance, to speak with a teacher or headteacher, and only as a last resort to go to Ofsted. We want to see and encourage as much live teaching as possible, which is shown to be the best way of delivering teaching, but a whole spectrum of resources can be offered. It is really important to work with schools, with parents supporting those schools, to ensure that we get the best solutions for all our children.
Jerome Mayhew [V]
I know from my experience with my own children that having live lessons taught online is much more effective than simply placing learning resources online. With more than 750,000 laptops already delivered and 2.9 million laptops already available in schools for the use of children, the digital divide has been substantially overcome. With that in mind, can my right hon. Friend give an indication of the percentage of schools providing live teaching online? Does he have plans to increase that further?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend is right to highlight the great strides that have been made in supporting schools, and in schools supporting parents, on the provision of remote education. We obviously encourage schools to put on as much live provision as possible, which is very beneficial, and we are working with the whole school and further education sector to support them with that request. We are seeing substantial gains, and we are monitoring the situation closely, as is Ofsted.
Tom Hunt
I thank all the teachers in Ipswich, many of whom are balancing still teaching some kids physically and teaching some remotely. On the theme of live learning, does the Secretary of State consider the impact on those with special educational needs? For them, live lessons are particularly important, especially if they have speech and language difficulties, because live engagement gives them the opportunity to question and is very valuable. Live lessons can also be hugely beneficial for the mental health of many pupils, because even if it is just a couple of hours a day, they have that live engagement, and they see other pupils and their teacher.
Gavin Williamson
As always, my hon. Friend hits the nail on the head: it is so important to ensure that we get the right balance for young people, especially those with special educational needs. That is why we took the decision to ensure that children who have an education, health and care plan are able to go into school, as part of the category of vulnerable children who may need extra face-to-face support from their teachers.
Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)
The fact is that up to 1.8 million children in this country do not have access to a device at home, and more than 800,000 do not have access to the internet needed. Even with the laptops that the Secretary of State has already provided and those he intends to provide, the provision of devices and dongles falls well short. Why is the Secretary of State willing to accept standards for other people’s children that he would never accept for his own, and why is it that, once again, the incompetence of his Department has left children across the country seriously disadvantaged?
Gavin Williamson
At every stage, we on the Government Benches—and, I am sure, those on the Opposition Benches—want to deliver the very best for every single child, wherever they live and whatever background they come from. The hon. Gentleman may want to play politics over children’s lives, but we are focused on delivering for those children. That is why, on top of the stock of 2.9 million laptops and tablets that are already out there, we took the decision to invest £400 million in purchasing and distributing an additional 1.3 million devices, making a total of 4.2 million devices in the school system.
Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP) [V]
Of course, a laptop or a device is really just a glorified typewriter if you cannot access the internet. We know that nearly 1 million youngsters in the UK are in that situation. Given that BT’s offer of free internet access was rejected by the Secretary of State, how does he plan to help such children to access the internet for remote education?
Gavin Williamson
At every stage, we work with many companies, including EE, Three and BT, to ensure that we maximise the amount of data that is available for those children who are most vulnerable. The hon. Lady will be pleased that many children in Scotland are able to benefit from the work we have been doing with those providers. I imagine that she will be keen to pass on her thanks and appreciation for that work, which has been undertaken to the benefit of all children in the United Kingdom.
Carol Monaghan
Of course, I welcome the support that these internet companies have provided; I only wish the Secretary of State would take his responsibility in this area more seriously, and had moved more quickly. The success of remote learning is not just about the right equipment. It is also about youngsters’ readiness to learn, and that includes whether or not they have eaten. The Scottish Government are ensuring that no child is left hungry during remote learning by ensuring either a cash-first response or vouchers, depending on the preference of the family. Having seen the meagre offerings in these free school meals from some private providers in England, will the UK Government make a similar commitment, and provide either cash or voucher support to the families who are entitled to free school meals?
Gavin Williamson
As the hon. Lady is probably aware, we have opened up the national voucher scheme to all schools in England. We give those schools the option of providing food parcels or locally procured vouchers, or of making use of the national voucher scheme. This is a broad range of options for schools, enabling them to ensure that all children are fed, which I believe is both her priority and mine.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con) [V]
The Department for Education’s own pre-pandemic study found that pupils’ wellbeing predicted their later academic progression. Children with better mental health and wellbeing at age seven had a value-added key stage 2 score 2.46 points higher—equivalent to more than one term’s progress—than pupils with poorer wellbeing and mental health. While schools are closed and children are remote learning, mental health worries for millions of children have rocketed, as highlighted by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and others. Will my right hon Friend work with charities such as Place2Be to put mental health councillors in all schools now, so that children can access support whenever they need it and their attainment levels will not suffer even further?
Gavin Williamson
I know that my right hon. Friend speaks for many in the House who have particular concerns about children’s mental health, and about making sure that, as we work through this pandemic, this is not something that is forgotten and on which no action is taken. We have already undertaken work on helping schools to train staff to support not just pupils, but staff. I would be very happy to sit down with my right hon. Friend to discuss the work that many charities and voluntary organisations undertake, and how they can properly and fully support all children and all those who work in the education sector when it comes to their mental health.
Stephen Morgan (Portsmouth South) (Lab)
Bob Seely (Isle of Wight) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
We are investing over £400 million to support access to remote education, including by providing 1.3 million laptops and tablets to disadvantaged children. We are partnering with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data, as well as deliver 4G wireless routers for pupils without a connection at home.
Paul Howell [V]
Wingate Community Nursery School in my Sedgefield constituency has continued to provide excellent early years education to its students throughout the covid-19 pandemic. As a result of the change to the early years education funding process, which will see nurseries receive funding per hour if a student is in attendance, and with many parents struggling with the decision of whether to send their children to nursery, Wingate nursery may find itself financially worse off. Will the Secretary of State look again at the changes to the funding process and confirm that they will not have a negative impact on nurseries financially?
Gavin Williamson
I would very much like to join my hon. Friend in thanking the staff at Wingate for all the work they do to support children, including in these incredibly difficult times. He is right to point out how we proceeded with the funding mechanism prior to Christmas. Obviously, in the light of the changing course of the pandemic, we had to make revisions to ensure that nurseries such as Wingate across the country get the support they need. That is why we have changed the approach to the census being carried out this week.
Rob Roberts
The Welsh Government, which is led by Labour with a Liberal Democrat Education Minister, have presided over an 8.4% real-terms reduction in education spending in the past 10 years. Last week, my office identified that dozens of the most deprived households in my constituency still do not have access to suitable devices for learning remotely. What advice can my right hon. Friend give me on assisting the young learners in my constituency, who are being let down once again by the Welsh Government?
Gavin Williamson
Of course, we will always want to work very closely with all the devolved Administrations, sharing good practice and good ideas across the board. I understand that the Welsh Government are still sitting on £1 billion-worth of covid funding provided to them by the UK Government. We would ensure that that was not sat in their coffers, but was spent wisely to support children in my hon. Friend’s constituency and right across Wales.
Daniel Zeichner [V]
In the city of Cambridge last week, 1,748 children were without a suitable device for learning. Across the county as a whole, almost 6,500 were. Ministers have had almost a year to sort this out. When will every child have access to the learning they need?
Gavin Williamson
I point the hon. Gentleman to an answer I gave earlier. Over 2.9 million devices are already in circulation within the school system. That has been supplemented by an additional 1.3 million, of which 750,000 have already been dispatched. Over the last two weeks, we have been seeing the dispatch of devices to schools running at approximately 20,000 each day.
Bob Seely [V]
I thank Ministers and education officers for their work, and most of all, I thank teachers on the Isle of Wight for keeping education going in these very difficult circumstances; I am sure that the Secretary of State would want to do so as well. Can he explain what further support is being planned for children in need on the Island and what is being done to ensure adequate virtual learning across all schools?
Gavin Williamson
I join my hon. Friend in thanking teachers and support staff on the Isle of Wight for their work over the last few months and for their continued work and efforts in terms of ensuring that every child on the Isle of Wight gets the very best education. We have already announced the increase in the number of devices that we are procuring—increasing that from the initial 200,000 that we announced a number of months ago to 1.3 million; this is very much there to complement the offer—and we have set out explicitly the expectations that we have of all schools and colleges in terms of the provision of remote education in these truly unprecedented times.
Suzanne Webb (Stourbridge) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
I very much wish to start by thanking all those who work in our schools, colleges, early years settings and universities for the work they have been doing over the past few weeks to ensure that youngsters and people of all ages who are using our education establishment get the very best education. In the light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we have confirmed that GCSE, A-level and AS-level exams will not be going ahead as planned this summer. This year’s grades will be awarded based on the judgment of teachers, not algorithms. I am pleased to confirm that Ofqual, with the Department, has launched a two-week consultation to seek views on how to fairly award all pupils, including private candidates and students taking vocational qualifications, the grades they truly deserve.
Suzanne Webb [V]
May I, too, start by thanking all teachers and educational staff in Stourbridge, who continue to do a vital job in the most difficult of circumstances? Although we are asking the vast majority of schools to move to remote provision, does my right hon. Friend agree that it is only right that we, once again, keep schools open for vulnerable children and those whose parents are working on the frontline of our response to this pandemic?
Gavin Williamson
I very much join my hon. Friend and neighbour in thanking all those teachers and support staff who have been doing a brilliant job in Stourbridge in keeping schools open for children of critical workers and for vulnerable children. It is important to emphasise the need to encourage children, especially those in most vulnerable categories, to come into school and continue to have that support and protection that school offers them, and the importance of doing so—it gives them so much support, in sometimes difficult circumstances. I thank all teaching staff for ensuring that schools remain open for children of critical workers.
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
The utterly inadequate school food parcels we saw last week were an absolute scandal, one that was, however, entirely in line with the Government’s own guidance. So why has it taken the Secretary of State until the third week of term to initiate a voucher system? Can he tell the House how many parents received vouchers today?
Gavin Williamson
As the hon. Lady would know if she had taken the time to read our guidance, those food parcels did not meet the expectations or the guidance that we set out. They are not acceptable and we have made that clear. We are very keen to ensure that schools have the choice and freedom to choose what is best for children in their school. That is why we have given schools—[Interruption.] If the hon. Lady stopped chuntering from a sedentary position she would have the opportunity to hear my answer. That is why we have given schools the opportunity to choose food parcels, vouchers that are locally procured or the national voucher scheme. More than 15,000 of those vouchers have already been dispatched today.
Kate Green
Ah, so we got the answer in the end. The truth is that the Secretary of State was late in planning the voucher scheme, late in getting laptops to students, late in consulting on replacing exams, and late in announcing that students will not return to school in January. After delay after delay, has he finally realised what parents, pupils and staff have known for months, which is that he is just not up to the job?
Gavin Williamson
Time and again, we have recognised where there are real challenges in dealing with the global pandemic. That is why we have taken the action that we have. That is why we are distributing 1.3 million laptops right across the country.
That is why we have put the national voucher scheme in place. That is why we are supporting families who are often the most vulnerable and why we will continue supporting families who are the most vulnerable.
Christian Wakeford (Bury South) (Con)
Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab) [V]
Gavin Williamson
We are very much looking forward to the APPG being rechristened the Turing APPG, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. I can confirm that the Minister for Universities, my hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan), would be delighted to meet the hon. Lady and her colleagues on the all-party parliamentary group to see what more can be done to expand these truly great opportunities for all young people right across the United Kingdom to see the world and to learn from the experience of studying in so many institutions right across the globe.
Matt Vickers (Stockton South) (Con) [V]
Gavin Williamson
I echo my hon. Friend’s thanks to all teachers in Stockton South, and not only for the amazing work they did last term, but for what they are continuing to do. He is absolutely right to highlight children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. That is why our covid catch-up fund is so incredibly important in helping them to catch up, and why our roll-out of 1.3 million laptops right across the country is so important in helping to support schools. The best thing that we can do is see all schools return at the earliest possible date, with children benefiting from being back in the classroom and learning directly from their teachers.
Stuart C. McDonald (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (SNP) [V]
Gavin Williamson
We will always look at how best we can support students. We have announced an additional £20 million of hardship funding for students, to be administered through universities in England, and we will continue to keep that under review.
Bim Afolami (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)
Gavin Williamson
There can be no excuses when universities are not offering the type of remote teaching and educational support that is expected. That is why it is so critical that, where that remote teaching and support is not happening, students’ rights are upheld. We saw at the tail end of last year that students’ rights were upheld and universities had to redress that. That is the right approach. We recognise how important it is to support students, which is why we will continue to look at how best we can support them through programmes such as the hardship fund.
Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con) [V]
Gavin Williamson
This is something everyone in this House feels incredibly passionately about. I know through seeing at first hand, coming from a family with parents who fostered for many years, how important it is to get high-quality children’s social care right in this country. I want a real revolution to come out of this report, and I am incredibly pleased that Josh MacAlister has taken on this role to deliver the changes that I think Members on both sides of the House want. I have said quite clearly that I do not want him to hold back in tackling difficult issues. I want to see change, improvement and children’s lives transformed. By working on a cross-party basis, I believe that that is what we can deliver.
Grahame Morris (Easington) (Lab) [V]
Covid-19: Educational Settings
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 3 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement regarding schools in national lockdown.
The last thing any Education Secretary wants to do is announce that schools will close[Official Report, 20 January 2021, Vol. 687, c. 3MC.], and this is not a decision that the Government ever wanted to take. I would like to reassure everyone that our schools have not suddenly become unsafe, but limiting the number of people who attend them is essential when the covid rates are climbing as they are now. We must curb the escalating cases of covid throughout the country and prevent the national health service from being overwhelmed. That is why, today, I am setting out the contingency plans I had prepared but had hoped would never have to implement. I would like to thank all of our teachers, our education staff and our social workers for all that they have been doing to keep children and young people safe and learning.
During the lockdown, early years settings remain open nationally to all, providing vital early education and childcare. Schools will be open too for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers. Those at university will predominantly study online, although there are a small number of exceptions, including those studying medicine, healthcare and education.
Unwelcome though this latest lockdown is—and I am very conscious of the real challenges that parents are facing with their children at home—we are far better placed to cope with it than we were last March. We are now better prepared to deliver online learning. This is an important step forward in supporting children to make the progress with their education that they so desperately need. We will also do what we can to help their parents, and I thank all those parents and carers who are having to step up once more to take on the challenge of home learning.
We have set out clear, legally binding requirements for schools to provide high-quality remote education. This is mandatory for all state-funded schools and will be enforced by Ofsted. We expect schools to provide between three and five hours of teaching a day, depending on the child’s age. If parents feel their child’s school is not providing suitable remote education, they should first raise their concerns with the teacher or headteacher, and, failing that, report the matter to Ofsted. Ofsted will inspect schools of any grade where it has serious concerns about the quality of remote education being provided.
We have significantly stepped up the digital support we are providing to schools and parents. The fantastic Oak National Academy continues to provide video lessons for all ages across all subjects, and yesterday the BBC announced it will be delivering the biggest push on education in its history, bringing 14 weeks of educational programmes and lessons to every household in the country.
Our delivery of laptops and tablets continues apace: we have purchased more than 1 million laptops and tablets and have already delivered more than 560,000 of them to schools and local authorities. With an extra 100,000 being distributed this week alone, by the end of next week, we will have delivered three quarters of a million devices. We are also working with all the UK’s leading mobile network operators to provide free data for key educational sites. We are grateful to EE, 3, Tesco Mobile, Smarty, Sky Mobile, Virgin Mobile, O2 and Vodafone for supporting this offer. We have also been delivering 4G routers to families who need to access the internet.
Another area where we have learnt lessons is exams. Last year, all four nations of the United Kingdom found that their arrangements for awarding grades did not deliver what they needed, with the painful impact felt by students and their parents. Although exams are the fairest way we have of assessing what a student knows, the impact of the pandemic means that it is not possible to have these exams this year. I can confirm that GCSE, A-level and AS-level exams will not go ahead this summer.
This year, we will put our trust in teachers rather than algorithms. My Department and Ofqual had already worked up a range of contingency options. While the details will need to be fine-tuned in consultation with Ofqual, the exam boards and teaching representative organisations, I can confirm now that I wish to use a form of teacher-assessed grades, with training and support provided to ensure that these are awarded fairly and consistently across the country.
I know that students and staff have worked hard to prepare for the January exams and assessments of vocational and technical qualifications, and we want to allow schools and colleges to continue these assessments where they judge it is right to do so. No college should feel pressured to offer these, and we will ensure that all students are able to progress fairly, just as we will with VTQs in the summer.
I know that, understandably, there is concern about free school meals. We will provide extra funding to support schools to provide food parcels or meals to eligible children. Where schools cannot offer food parcels or use local solutions, we will ensure that a national voucher scheme is in place, so that every eligible child can access free school meals while their school remains closed.
Finally, I would like to turn to our programme of testing for the virus. There has been a brilliant, concerted effort in secondary schools and colleges to deliver testing for the start of this term, and none of the work done to roll that out is going to be wasted. Regular testing will take place of staff and students in school and in due course help us to reopen schools as soon as possible. Testing is going to be the centre of our plans to send children back to school, back to the classroom and back to college as soon as possible.
I never wanted to be in a position where we had to close schools again.[Official Report, 20 January 2021, Vol. 687, c. 3MC.] Schools should always have their gates open, welcoming children and being at the heart of their community. The moment that the virus permits, all our children will be back in school with their teachers and friends. But until then we have put in place the measures we need to make sure that they continue to progress. For that reason, I commend this statement to the House.
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
A happy new year, Mr Speaker. May I begin by paying tribute to the deputy general secretary of the NASUWT, Gareth Young, who tragically died shortly before Christmas? I am sure the House will join me in sending condolences to his loved ones and to his friends and colleagues in the union.
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement, but it is disappointing that he did not make a new year’s resolution to avoid U-turns or chronic incompetence. Once again, where the Secretary of State goes, chaos and confusion follow, and it is children, families, and education staff across the country who pay the price for his incompetence. I can suggest a new year’s resolution for the Secretary of State: that he at least start answering my questions.
Every pupil who is not in school must be able to access education. We must do everything we can to safeguard learning throughout this lockdown. I pay tribute to everyone who has made it possible to keep pupils learning online—the incredible leaders, teachers and support staff in schools and colleges, and those such as Oak and the BBC who are doing a huge amount to make learning accessible.
I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment on digital devices, and I am glad he has listened to Labour and to the charities across the country that called for zero rating of educational sites, but Ofqual estimates that up to 1.78 million children do not have access to a device. Can the Secretary of State guarantee that, under his plans, every child who needs a device will have one as soon as possible and that every one of those children will be able to learn remotely? May I also repeat the question the Leader of the Opposition asked the Prime Minister earlier: will the welcome data deal done with mobile providers take effect immediately?
I welcome the Secretary of State’s comments on free school meals, and I hope he can guarantee that every child eligible for this support is already receiving it. If not, can he assure me that they will do so within days?
Months ago, the Education Secretary gave a cast-iron commitment that exams would go ahead. At that moment, we should have known they were doomed to be cancelled. I wanted exams to go ahead fairly, but I was always clear that there must be a plan B if that was not possible. For months, there was no sign of any such plan, although the risk that exams could not happen has always been entirely predictable. The Secretary of State says he will be providing support to teachers to award grades. Can he tell me when they will receive that support and what form it will take, and can he confirm that it will be available in all schools? Can he tell me exactly what will be done to ensure that all grades are fair and consistent and support pupils to move on in their education or employment?
I heard what the Secretary of State said about technical and vocational exams, but frankly he is failing to show leadership on the exams taking place in January, and he is simply leaving it to schools and colleges to decide what they should do in these difficult circumstances. Will he now do the right thing and cancel this week’s BTEC exams, as parents, colleges and the Association of Colleges are calling for?
Staff in every part of our education system have faced a hugely challenging job and done extraordinary things to keep children safe and educated throughout the pandemic. Too often, though, the Secretary of State has refused to listen to their concerns or engage meaningfully with the expertise of professionals on the frontline. He can start to make it up to them today. Is the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation working on a strategy to vaccinate all education staff to keep them safe and get children back in the classroom? Does he believe that they should be prioritised for vaccination to keep them safe and to allow schools and colleges to reopen?
Early years settings remain open to all children, but the Secretary of State has failed to explain how this will be safe for staff and families, so can he tell us what scientific advice he has received that made him think that they will be safe, and can he honestly say that he is following the science? Whether providers are open or closed, will he finally reconsider the unjustifiable decision to move early years funding in line with current occupancy, which will push tens of thousands of providers to the brink of collapse?
Finally, I turn to the return of schools in the months ahead. The decision to close them is not one taken easily or lightly, and although it is the right thing to do to control the virus and save lives, it has huge consequences for children’s learning and development. That is why Labour has always said that schools should be the last thing to close and the first to reopen. Yesterday, the Prime Minister could not guarantee that children would be back in school before the summer. Can the Secretary of State tell us when he expects children to be safely back in the classroom?
At every stage of the pandemic, young people have been an afterthought for the Government, and now we are back where we were nine months ago, with schools closed and exams cancelled. There is time to act, but the Secretary of State must act now to ensure that all pupils can learn remotely, that families are supported and that the most vulnerable are safeguarded.
Gavin Williamson
I would very much like to join the hon. Lady in paying tribute to Gareth. I had the great privilege of working with Gareth during his time as deputy general secretary of the NASUWT, as well as with his colleagues there. Our thoughts and prayers are very much with his family and with his friends and colleagues.
The hon. Lady raises a number of very important points, including the roll-out of digital devices and our commitment to deliver 1 million digital devices across the country. We will be getting three quarters of a million of those devices out by the end of next week, supporting schools in delivering the full allocation of devices that they need and looking at how we can go further. It has been a great privilege to work with those brilliant teachers, those inspiring leaders, and to help fund and support them in setting up the Oak National Academy—a brilliant online school that is being viewed not just right across this country, but right across the world, for its quality of teaching. We want to see that used more and more as a vital teaching resource.
The hon. Lady is right to raise concerns about free school meals and how important this is for every one of our constituents. That is why we are putting the funding and support in place. There are many parts of the country where it will be best for schools to deliver those free school meals themselves, and they want to do that, but that will not be the case in other parts of the country where schools will want to do it as part of the national voucher scheme. That is why we will be standing up that scheme over the next few days and making sure that schools are not out of pocket and, most importantly of all, that children and families are supported at this incredibly difficult time.
The hon. Lady asks whether there will be training and guidance for teachers across the country as we move to teacher-assessed grades, and I can absolutely confirm that that will be the case. We have always been aware that there could be a situation where we would not be in a position to be able to proceed with examinations. We have always had a clear view that the best way of assessing children is through examination, so I will not apologise for being enthusiastic to ensure that we have been able to be in a position to roll out exams, but we do recognise that due to where we are as a result of this pandemic, we have to take a different course, and that is why we are taking the route that we are.
The hon. Lady mentioned technical and vocational qualifications. As she will know, it is very important that we give colleges, schools and all providers, including independent training providers, the necessary flexibility, because a lot of young people will need to complete some of their professional competency qualifications in order to take up work and job opportunities, such as those on electricians’ or gas courses where they have to do a practical assessment in order to be able to get the qualifications to take the work, the jobs and the opportunities. We want to ensure that the door is kept open for them. That is why we have taken the decision to give providers the discretion, because they will be the ones who best and most accurately understand the needs of their students and those who possibly need these qualifications to be able to progress into a job that they would not be able to do if they did not have that option.
On vaccination, the Government have already set out the important need to vaccinate those who are most likely to be hospitalised if they catch this disease, and not just hospitalised but most at risk of death. Like the hon. Lady, and like everyone in the education community, I very much want to see the vaccination of all those who are tirelessly, every single day through the week and every week, keeping schools open for the children of critical workers and vulnerable children, when schools are fully reopened again, but coupled with this is a really important step forward, the mass testing programme that we have already started rolling out in schools. The mass testing programme in schools will be one of the largest testing programmes that this country has ever seen. It is ready to go—ready to be implemented—and it will be an important plank in ensuring that we can get schools opened at the earliest possible opportunity.
It will not surprise the hon. Lady that we listen to the best scientific and public health advice in making the decision to keep early years open. We all have a clear understanding of how important early years education is for every child. As I have always said, I will do everything I can to keep every educational establishment open if that is possible and if it is the right thing to do. When we were given the health advice that we could be in a position to keep early years open, which is so important not just for those children themselves but for families, I felt that that was the right decision to take.
I do not want to see any school closed for a moment longer than it has to be. That is why, in June, we all worked so hard and fought so hard to ensure that schools opened right across the country for primary years. That is why, during June, we did so much to ensure that years 10 and 12 were able to return to school at the earliest possible opportunity. That is why, in September, we saw the opening of schools right across the country and all children being able to return to school.
I can absolutely assure the hon. Lady that I will not let schools be closed for a moment longer than they need to be. I will do everything I can to ensure that every school is open, so that children are able to benefit from the brilliant teaching that goes on in so many of our primary schools, secondary schools and colleges, because I know that is the best place for children. That is what I want for my children, I know that is what Members want for their children, but most importantly, that is what we want for our nation’s children. That is why I will give everything in order to ensure that schools are the first things to be opened in every instance, because that is what is best for every one of our children.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
We now go to the Chairman of the Select Committee on Education, Robert Halfon.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con) [V]
I strongly welcome the Government’s laptop scheme, but we know that there will still be possibly hundreds of thousands of people on the wrong side of the digital divide. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that those students who just do not have an internet connection or computers at home will be able to go to school alongside children of critical workers? Will he also confirm that any centre-assessed grade system will not only maintain standards but provide a level playing field for disadvantaged children and have a fair appeals process? Will he ensure that there are independent assessors—perhaps retired teachers or Ofsted inspectors—to provide a check and balance for each assessed grade awarded?
Finally, I welcome what my right hon. Friend has said about wanting to open schools again, and I know that he believes that strongly. Will he do everything possible to ensure that teachers and support staff are given priority for vaccination alongside NHS workers, so that we can get our schools open again sooner rather than later?
Gavin Williamson
The reason we are rolling out and expanding our devices package is that we realise how important it is for all children, especially those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. In the previous situation where schools had to be closed, during the months of March, April and May, children who did not have access to digital devices were able to access education in school, and I can confirm that we are issuing the same standard and the same guidance today.[Official Report, 20 January 2021, Vol. 687, c. 3MC.]
On disadvantaged children and the centre-assessed grades and teacher assessment, we will do everything we can to ensure that children are not left behind due to either their background or the community in which they have grown up and are learning. I look forward to working with my right hon. Friend and his Committee and taking their advice on any additional actions that we need to undertake to ensure fairness. I will certainly take on board his ideas and thinking about bringing in volunteers and people who want to support education, and about ensuring that teacher assessment is fair and robust and that it maintains standards and, most importantly, fairness for the children who are taking those qualifications.
Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP) [V]
We should not, of course, be surprised at this latest U-turn on schools. Any student teacher knows that planning is a key skill, but it is one that the Secretary of State has yet to master. His decisions have been made in a reactionary and last-minute manner. Schools in England have predictably gone from being open, with threats of legal action if they are closed, to being snapped shut in an instant, giving parents no time to put in place arrangements.
Let me say to all Members that we need to be careful about this narrative that children are falling behind. They are falling behind only on an external scale that we have defined for them. We cannot use the same metrics this year as we have before. Much as we all want schools to be open, young people are learning other skills too. That said, it is good to hear that the BBC is producing educational resources. Can the Secretary of State confirm whether there will be resources available for the Scottish curriculum at national 5, higher and advanced higher level?
Teachers are fed up with politicians paying tribute to them one minute and sending them into unsafe environments the next. The risk posed to children in school is small—we have evidence for that—but as the Prime Minister said earlier, pupils can act as vectors, and let us be clear that if a member of staff in a school catches covid, there is increased strain on the remaining staff, so it should not be only high-risk staff who are vaccinated. Before we talk about opening schools, we need a clear position on vaccinations for teachers and school staff. The First Minister has committed to look at that. The Secretary of State has said that he will do everything he can to ensure that schools open, so will he ensure that teachers are a priority for vaccination so that schools can open with confidence?
Finally, there are many students who are now learning at home completely and are not going to return to university after Christmas. They still have to pay for university accommodation. What support will the Secretary of State look at giving to those young people who have to pay out in that manner?
Gavin Williamson
It was interesting to listen to the hon. Lady’s comments about students, which are probably indicative of some of the challenges in the Scottish education system, given that it has fallen down the rankings of the programme for international student assessment. It is really important that we support children so that they can learn. It is really important that we do everything we can to ensure that children are in a position to learn about maths, English, the sciences and the arts. It seems indicative in what she was saying that the Scottish National party is not very interested in making sure that children benefit from a knowledge-rich curriculum.
I would be happy to contact the director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation on the matters that the hon. Lady raised, and I will write to her with details on that. It is always a privilege to work with colleagues across all nations of the United Kingdom, and it is really important that we share what works well and what works best. I would always be happy to work with her. We have funded extensively the Oak National Academy, which has an incredibly rich curriculum resource, and I notice from the latest figures that it is used by a lot of students in Scotland as well as in England. I would be very happy to share some of the work that we are doing to help to support students in Scotland as well as students in England.
Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con) [V]
I welcome the statement by the Secretary of State. The economic recovery will be skills based, and the Government have rightly placed much emphasis on the importance of BTECs. However, there is worry, confusion and uncertainty in colleges and schools. Many have cancelled this month’s exams, but others have not. They should not have been placed in a position of having to make their own choice as to whether to go ahead with exams. The Government should have shown clear leadership so that all students across the country were in the same situation. Will the Secretary of State work with Ofqual, the exam boards and the Association of Colleges to put in place as quickly as possible new arrangements that will provide students and teachers with certainty, clarity and confidence?
Gavin Williamson
As my hon. Friend will have heard in my statement, that is exactly what I have said we would do. For clarity, there are many colleges that know for their students’ future prospects they need to complete assessments this month if those students are to be able access work and employment opportunities. So no, I am not going to go down the route that my hon. Friend suggested of taking that opportunity potentially to access work and other opportunities away from them, because I do not believe that that would be right for those children.
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD) [V]
Teachers and school staff have put themselves at enormous risk during the pandemic to keep schools open. Now that the Prime Minister has accepted that schools are the epicentre of high community covid transmission, it is essential that the Government give teachers and school staff the priority access to covid vaccination that they deserve. Will the Secretary of State look at adding them to category 7, as that would make teachers and school staff a top priority for vaccinations after those who are 65 and over, all those who are clinically vulnerable, and our NHS and social care staff?
Gavin Williamson
At every stage, we have put the safety of students, pupils, teachers and the whole workforce—and including the whole community—at the heart of everything we have done. All the evidence shows that the work, the precautions and the measures that have been put in place mean that schools have been able to operate safely and well. We will constantly work with the whole sector to ensure that every measure is undertaken so that that continues. That is why we are ready to roll out a mass testing programme, delivering millions of tests right across the board. That will happen in schools as they welcome the children of critical workers as well as vulnerable children into them. When schools fully return and can welcome all children back, the testing regime will be at the centre of that return.
Dr Luke Evans (Bosworth) (Con) [V]
I understand why GCSEs and A-levels have been cancelled and I am pleased to hear my right hon. Friend say that the substitute system will be robust and fair. What can he do to confirm for the young people of Hinckley and Bosworth that students will be rewarded for how they perform, that they are not disadvantaged by the school they go to and that the teachers who conduct the assessments have buy-in and ownership of what they are doing in the current situation?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend makes an important point. Our great advantage is that we have the opportunity and the time to roll out extensive training, guidance and support for those teachers making that assessment, to ensure that it is accurate and fair and reflects children’s abilities. We will undertake that with schools over the coming months. We endeavour to ensure that teachers and all those who work in the education system are supported in my hon. Friend’s constituency as they are throughout the country.
Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab) [V]
It was irresponsible of the Government to announce the cancellation of GCSE and A-level exams and to say nothing about BTEC exams, with no details of an alternative plan being agreed. Students and their families in Luton South have already suffered greatly over the past nine months and are deeply anxious about the continued uncertainty that has been created. Many students have contacted me to say that they are suffering negative impacts on their mental health as a result. What plans has the Secretary of State to provide additional mental health support for our children and young people?
Gavin Williamson
Of course one of the great advantages of schools being back all the way through the latter half of last year is that teachers and those working in schools have been in the best possible place to assess and work with children and to have the best understanding of their needs and some of their problems, including mental health challenges. We will work with the education sector to support them. We have already taken several actions to support schools and education settings with children who have suffered mental health problems as a result of covid and of being out of school. We will continue to do that and step up those measures in the coming months.
Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con) [V]
I thank the Secretary of State not just for his statement but for the huge effort he must be putting in to try to balance conflicting priorities. As a father to an A-level student who was hoping to take her exams this year, I can relate to the anxiety that so many young people and their parents must feel in Dudley North and across the country due to the uncertainty of the situation. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that he will make every effort to remove that uncertainty by bringing clarity at the earliest opportunity, so that students can better focus on their studies and teaching staff on the best approach to support them?
Gavin Williamson
As my own daughter was due take her GCSE exams later this year, I can assure my hon. Friend that we very much hope that this statement has given a clear sense of certainty and direction. We will be following this up with further detailed consultation: Ofqual will be leading a two-week consultation period, which will be launched next week. It is very important that we get feedback from the sector to ensure that the details of this policy are properly understood, and work best not just for schools and colleges but, most importantly, for those who are receiving the grades.
Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab) [V]
Given that the company Computacenter, which was awarded the £96 million contract with no competition, failed to deliver all the laptop kits to vulnerable children in the first lockdown, why is the Secretary of State sticking with Tory party donors from that company this time?
Gavin Williamson
I pay tribute to Computacenter, which has done an amazing job of distributing hundreds of thousands of devices right across the country. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we did a direct award on the first contract, as Computacenter was one of the few businesses that was in a position to be able to assist us at that time. Since then, tenders have gone out and Computacenter has won those tenders through fair competition.
Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con) [V]
Some North Yorkshire schools are operating a full, formal timetable, with checks and balances including roll calls and marking, but some schools are not. Does my right hon. Friend agree that all schools should use this kind of best practice to ensure that students work as hard and as effectively remotely as they do when they physically attend school?
Gavin Williamson
As a former North Yorkshire County councillor and former member of the education committee of North Yorkshire County Council, I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. It is vital that we keep as much formal education in place as possible. Schools have moved forwards in leaps and bounds in what they are able to offer, but we recognise that there has been variability. That is why we have taken the actions that we have, including the actions that we will take with Ofsted, to ensure that good, high-quality remote education is delivered in all our schools, right across the country.
Paula Barker (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab) [V]
I would like to place on record my thanks to the National Education Union and to Unison for the work that they have been doing to keep school staff and pupils safe. In my constituency of Liverpool, Wavertree, I have been inundated with inquiries from worried parents and nursery staff about nurseries remaining open, and the risk that that poses, particularly when elderly grandparents, as part of support bubbles, are often used to pick up children. I am afraid that the narrative from the Secretary of State that this group is the least at risk is not enough and does not instil confidence. Will he fully explain to my constituents why nurseries and early years settings are not closing, with the exception of providing services to the children of key workers?
Gavin Williamson
Early evidence from SAGE has shown that early years provision had a smaller relative impact on transmission rates than primary schools, which in turn had a smaller relative impact than secondary schools; that is why the decision was taken. The hon. Lady mentions the National Education Union. I thank the National Education Union and Unison for recognising that the action they took and the advice that gave to their members on Sunday was incorrect, and for withdrawing that advice. It was the wrong advice, and I am glad that they have reflected on it and recognised that it was the wrong advice.
Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con) [V]
Ministers will know how bitterly disappointed I was when schools were so abruptly closed, because of the impact on mental health, the attainment gap and safeguarding. To give certainty and to enable schools to plan ahead, will the Secretary of State make the February half-term the default target date for return, barring any new crisis? And for those schools remaining open for key workers and vulnerable children, can we make sure that this time they are not turning away children on an education, health and care plan, in particular, on the basis that schools could not safely look after them? I am already hearing complaints from parents that their children who are entitled to attend are being placed on waiting lists.
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out that children on an EHC plan are entitled to and should be allowed into school and receive the care and support that school provides to those incredibly important children, so I absolutely, categorically make that totally clear to all schools and all colleges as well. I would like to see schools open tomorrow, as he will know. I never want to see schools in a position where they are not able to welcome children, but we have had to take this incredibly difficult decision. I want to see all schools opening on 22 February, but we obviously do have to take into account the scientific and health advice. Certainly, from a Department and a schooling point of view, every one of us is working towards welcoming all children back on 22 February, but we obviously continue to have to listen to the advice of both the scientific and public health community as to how we continue to beat this virus.
Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD) [V]
The Secretary of State has made a timely decision to scrap GCSEs, AS-levels and A-levels, and I very much hope that we can avoid the heartache that some of my constituents suffered last year when their algorithm-adjusted grades caused them to miss out on university places they had worked so hard for. This year, since exams are not being sat or needing to be marked, there is no need to delay the announcement of grades until August. An earlier announcement will help students and parents to plan their next steps and universities to manage a fair admissions process, and it will leave time for appeals and resits, so will the Secretary of State, in his discussions with Ofqual, consider bringing forward the date on which assessment grades are released?
Gavin Williamson
The hon. Lady raises an important point, and it is something that I have already raised in discussions with Ofqual. We obviously have to make that judgment call in line with the whole system. We do not want the whole system of awarding to be dictated by the date when youngsters get their grades, but it will be one of those issues that is in active consideration, because, as she says, it gives students more time if there is a need for appeals, and it also gives them more time to make the best choices for them and their future.
Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con) [V]
The Secretary of State should know the incredible dedication and self-sacrifice shown by teachers and staff throughout Romford and Havering since the start of this pandemic. Their determination to reorganise the schools to keep everyone safe and to continue to provide the highest standard of education must be commended, but with schools now closing as part of the lockdown, they will have to do everything they can to move classes for the majority of students online to minimise the impact on their education. However, as in-person teaching will still be going ahead for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers, will my right hon. Friend please clarify whether only one parent or both need to be critical workers in order for their children to continue to attend school in person?
Gavin Williamson
I very much join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to not just the teachers in Romford, but all those support staff who open up the schools, welcome the children and are such an important part of the fabric of that school community. In answer directly to his question, if one parent is a critical worker, it is deemed that they would have access to that school place for their child.
Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab) [V]
Many of my university student constituents have contacted me because they are desperately worried about the impact that covid restrictions are having on their learning, research, educational success, future careers, finances and mental health and wellbeing. Does the Secretary of State believe it is fair for them to continue to pay full fees and full rent when they are not receiving the university experience they expected, and what will he do to support students, especially those facing financial hardship?
Gavin Williamson
The hon. Lady will probably be aware that just before Christmas, the Government announced additional support for university students, with an extra package to help those youngsters who are most vulnerable. We will continue to work with the sector to look at how best we can support students and the sector as a whole.
Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con) [V]
I cannot hide my disappointment and sadness to see school gates closed to so many students from across Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke. Remote learning has many challenges, from unsuitable learning environments to no online connectivity and not having the necessary digital devices. Will my right hon. Friend continue discussions with me and the Minister for School Standards to get textbooks distributed to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, so that they do not fall victim to the digital divide while learning remotely?
Gavin Williamson
I have asked officials to organise a meeting between my hon. Friend, my right hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards and me next week to discuss this. We all recognise what an important role textbooks play in helping and supporting learning, and there has been some brilliant work and investment in producing exceptionally high-quality material. I look forward to meeting him next week to discuss how we can get textbooks distributed, especially to some of the most disadvantaged communities across our country.
Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab) [V]
I welcome the Secretary of State’s U-turn on GCSEs and A-levels, late though it was, adding to the pressure on schools and teachers. I am sorry that his approach on BTECs appears to be an afterthought and an abdication of responsibility, but I want to ask him about primary assessments. Does he accept that proceeding with SATs this year would place an unnecessary and pointless burden on schools, and will he take action to cancel this year’s tests and to do so in good time?
Gavin Williamson
I always enjoyed working with the hon. Member, in terms of the work we did with the Motor Neurone Disease Association over a number of years. He often speaks a lot of good sense—just, sadly, in the wrong party. I can confirm that we will not be proceeding with SATs this year. We recognise that that would be an additional burden on schools, and it is very important that we are focused on welcoming students back into the classroom at the earliest opportunity.
Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)
I commend my right hon. Friend for the work being done to roll out online learning, but for a significant proportion of my constituents there is a small practical problem: up to 13% of households either have very slow broadband or no access to it at all, and mobile data is non-existent in many villages. What practical support can he offer pupils living in such households, competing against other members of the household and trying to work or learn with no or little broadband?
Gavin Williamson
This is an incredibly challenging problem for many people living in rural communities. I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss what further measures we could take. I am beginning to think about some of the additional resource of textbooks and other resources that can maybe be made available to families and communities that have these acute problems, where it may not be something we can work around in terms of a technical solution. There may be other routes forward, but I will ask my Department to organise swiftly a meeting between him and me to discuss this issue and any other educational issues in his constituency.
Claudia Webbe (Leicester East) (Ind) [V]
The pandemic has highlighted the injustice of tuition fees. Students are incurring on average £57,000-worth of debt to be isolated in university halls and to be restricted to online learning, and beyond that, education must be a universal right, not a costly privilege. The last decade of extortionate tuition fees has saddled young people with debt, deterred working-class people from gaining higher education and reduced our universities to profit-seeking businesses. Will the Government take this opportunity to support students by refunding rents, scrapping tuition fees and cancelling student debt for good?
Gavin Williamson
The statistics bear out something rather different from what the hon. Lady said. We have seen a massive expansion of the university sector, with more young people going to university than ever before. If she took the time to look at the statistics and the facts, as opposed to not basing her question on the statistics or facts, she would discover that more children from the most disadvantaged families are going to university—often they are the first from that family—than ever before. That is something that this party should feel incredibly proud of, and I would like to see even more youngsters from the most deprived backgrounds going to some of the best universities in the country.
Dr Lisa Cameron (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) (SNP) [V]
Dr Adrian James, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists has described the covid-19 pandemic as the greatest threat to mental health
“since the second world war”.
As chair of the health all-party parliamentary group, I have been receiving concerned emails from parents across the United Kingdom regarding mental health. Given that children have experienced isolation and trauma—many have experienced bereavement—will the Secretary of State now take the opportunity to announce ring-fenced funding for a much-needed mental health and wellbeing strategy for children?
Gavin Williamson
I thank the hon. Lady for raising such an incredibly important point, and it would be great to have an opportunity to meet her and other members of the all-party parliamentary group to discuss some of the wider issues that we face not only in schools in England, but in schools across the whole of the United Kingdom. There have been various different initiatives, some for the higher education sector that were UK-wide, and which our universities have done so much on, but also some initiatives in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It would be really good to have a four-nations approach to how we support young people with the real challenges of mental health. I look forward to having that discussion with her, because I know she feels passionately about this issue, as so many Members of this House do. It is very much a cross-party issue, and I very much hope we can find some cross-party solutions on how we can best support our young people.
Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)
Happy new year to you, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I ask my right hon. Friend about early learning? The hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Paula Barker) has already raised the point, but I would rather like my right hon. Friend to explain why in Bromley, early learning centres—they are semi-schools really—are still open. They have a real problem, because all of them are privatised, and there would be a certain loss of income, which would be a problem. Can I ask him—not that I dispute what he is going to say—for an explanation as to why these places are open when primary schools are not?
Gavin Williamson
I assure my hon. Friend that at every stage we will go above and beyond to keep education settings open. The Prime Minister has many times outlined the Government’s commitment to and priority for education so, if we can, we will keep a sector of the education system open, because not only do the children who are in accrue enormous benefits—whether it is in a nursery, an early years setting, or a classroom in a primary or secondary school—but it is also incredibly important for parents and families, who often rely on those settings and schools to support them. When the advice came through—just to reiterate it—that the early evidence from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies showed that early years provision had a much smaller relative impact on transmission rates than primary schools, which, again, have a much lower relative transmission impact than secondary schools, we felt that that was the right thing to do. Yes, it is about supporting the children, but it is also about supporting the families.
Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab) [V]
We all want children back in school as soon as possible, so why do we not work together to make that happen? With that in mind, will the Secretary of State tell me when he last met teachers’ unions and what practical steps he agreed with them that the Department would take—for example, acquiring more space for schools, so that children and teachers can spread out? What steps did he agree that could make schools even safer so that we can get children back in school as quickly as possible?
Gavin Williamson
The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Where there is a shared commitment to see schools open, it is important to work together. I meet lots of organisations, including trade unions, on a very regular basis. Nowadays, I am afraid, we do not get to meet physically, and it is all online, but we have regular meetings. Only in the past week, I have had the opportunity to speak with a number of union leaders.
Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con) [V]
Happy new year to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and everyone else in the House. For those students due to have sat GCSEs, and AS and A-levels later this year, we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel the exams, which will without doubt cause a great deal of anxiety. Will my right hon. Friend assure me and the House that his Department will make every effort to provide those students with the vital clarity that they will need in the weeks ahead?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend has been a great champion, defending his schools and doing everything he can to ensure that parents in his constituency benefit from being able to have access to their schools, but he makes an important point about clarity. I hope that what we have set out today brings a lot of clarity. The further detailed consultation that Ofqual will roll out in the early part of next week will be the next stage of consulting schools on the next steps. We recognise that, when that is fully completed, it is really important that we support schools, the teaching profession, and colleges and lecturers in those next steps and the awarding of grades in the summer for A-levels, GCSEs, and other vocational and technical qualifications.
Rebecca Long Bailey (Salford and Eccles) (Lab) [V]
Despite serious safety concerns, we were told yesterday that BTECs were still going ahead, only to be told late last night that it was simply up to schools and colleges to decide whether it was safe. The Secretary of State ignored education unions and organisations when they repeatedly told him that it was not safe to reopen schools, colleges and nurseries on Monday, and nurseries are still open in full today, despite widespread anger and disbelief in the sector and without any robust scientific evidence from the Secretary of State that nurseries will not act as a vector for transmission of the virus.
Safety is the Secretary of State’s responsibility. Up to one in 50 people now have the virus, and the number continues to climb. Will he now listen to education unions and organisations, cancel BTEC exams, urgently take the same safety approach on nurseries as he has done with schools, and provide upgraded risk assessment guidance and vaccine access to all settings that are currently open to vulnerable and key worker children?
Gavin Williamson
May I say what a delight it is to have the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) as shadow Secretary of State? At least she seems to be enthusiastic about having children in schools, colleges and other settings, unlike the previous shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Salford and Eccles (Rebecca Long Bailey).
At every stage—I think the hon. Lady understands this—we have put the safety and security of children and the workforce at the very heart of what we do. As the chief medical officers not just of England, but of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have said, the best place for children is in school, but we have had to take unprecedented action as a result of the advice from the chief medical officer for England that the nation had to move to covid alert level 5. When the decision was taken on Monday to move to covid alert level 5, it was right that additional actions were taken, as reluctant as I was to see us in that position.
I think it is a little unfair of the hon. Lady to imply that the safety and security of staff and children are not at the heart of all our actions. They are at the heart of all our actions, but we know that children benefit from being in school and having the opportunity to sit in front of their teacher in the classroom. That is why Conservative Members have always been so enthusiastic for schools to have children in. I hope that she will eventually become a convert to that idea, as her successor has done.
Joy Morrissey (Beaconsfield) (Con)
Last year, the approach to GCSEs and A-levels meant that private candidates, such as home educated children, were unable to obtain a grade. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that this year they will be able to do so?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend speaks not just for her constituents, but for many thousands of youngsters right across the country who are worried about this. I have asked Ofqual to take up this issue, to look at it directly and to make sure that there are measures in place so that those students will be in a position to get a grade. I have asked Ofqual to include that as part of the consultation that it will be doing next week. We have already discussed how this can be done, and we believe that it will be possible to do so.
Alex Norris (Nottingham North) (Lab/Co-op)
The Secretary of State clearly prefers testing, rather than vaccination, as the means to make sure our teachers and learners will be safe when schools can reopen. The Prime Minister wants that to happen in six or seven weeks’ time. To have an adequate testing regime in every school by that period will require working around the clock in every minute available between now and then. Will the Secretary of State confirm that every school in my constituency has access to the support it needs to make sure that such a regime will be in place in time?
Gavin Williamson
We have already seen the mass distribution of testing kits, and all the equipment that is required, in schools and colleges that take years 7 and above. We will be looking at how we can roll out testing beyond secondary schools into primary settings and earlier years to support staff.
I am as enthusiastic about vaccination as the hon. Gentleman is, but we are very much forward with our programme of mass testing for children, with all secondary schools receiving the initial deliveries. All schools will be getting that level of support in secondary settings, and we are looking at expanding that in primary settings as well. That would include all the schools in his constituency, as well as those in all our constituencies.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
I appreciate that the Secretary of State is giving thorough and detailed answers to a great many questions, but we have already taken up considerably more than an hour on this statement. There are still 13 people to participate and I would like to give everyone the chance to ask their question, but I must ask them not to make speeches or statements. Just ask a question, and if it is a short question the Secretary of State will be able to give quite a short answer.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
Order. I did tell the hon. Lady not to make a speech but to ask a question. She has asked several questions, which I am sure the Secretary of State will answer, but I must insist that while we have virtual proceedings in this Chamber, people who participate virtually adhere to the same rules that we adhere to in the Chamber. Nobody calls the Secretary of State “you”. “You” means the Chair; the Secretary of State is the right hon. Gentleman.
Gavin Williamson
I will endeavour to be very brief, Madam Deputy Speaker. My hon. Friend is right to pay tribute to all those who work in schools, colleges and nurseries in Newton Abbot, and I add my thanks for the work that they do. We have been clear that the testing regime is a clear element in opening schools once more. We rely on the pressure that the NHS is currently feeling starting to lift, as that is one of the key reasons we had to take the difficult and unpalatable decision to close schools.
Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab) [V]
I have been contacted by a distraught young lady from my constituency who works full time and is a private candidate studying for her A-levels. With exams now cancelled, students in standard schooling will have predicted grade assessments from their teachers, but self-taught students have no such thing. Last year, thousands of private A-level candidates went without any grade when their exams were cancelled. Will the Secretary of State work with the exam boards to make provision for self-taught students like my constituent and to do what is necessary to ensure that they are not overlooked and that their money, time and study really do pay off?
Gavin Williamson
I certainly will do that. We have already had those discussions with Ofqual and we will have them, in turn, with exam boards. I refer the hon. Lady to the comments I made to my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey).
Simon Fell (Barrow and Furness) (Con)
As someone who was campaigning to keep schools open until a few days ago, I recognise how difficult these decisions have been for my right hon. Friend. I want to press him on two points. He has made his views on vaccination in schools clear, but I implore him to look again at vaccination in SEN schools, where the line between teaching and caring is very blurred. Secondly, will he review catch-up funding for schools, especially in areas of deprivation, to ensure that it is targeted and that the attainment gap does not widen as a result of this lockdown?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend and I have both championed the importance of keeping all schools open at every stage. I very much thank him for his support. I spy in the distance the Health Secretary, who is progressing slowly to the Chamber. I guarantee that I will make those arguments as forcibly as possible about recognising children and the workforce in special schools, where there is often a crossover between education and care. We will make those arguments, while recognising the broad clinical requirements under which the Department of Health and Social Care has to operate. I will certainly echo those comments to the Health Secretary.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
Order. I allowed the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (Simon Fell) two questions because I could not get in quickly enough to stop the second one. From now on, one question, no speeches, no statements.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab) [V]
Ofqual suggests that as many as 1.78 million children do not have access to a computer. What the Education Secretary has announced today is just a 10% reduction in those numbers by the end of next week, which will still leave 1.6 million children unable to access a computer. Bridging the digital divide is essential, so when will those 1.6 million children receive their laptops, and when will he address the situation of the 900,000 children who do not have data access?
Gavin Williamson
I refer the hon. Gentleman to my statement earlier, which covered most of the points he raises.
Miriam Cates (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Con) [V]
I know that my right hon. Friend did everything he could to keep schools open, and that he shares my concern for the welfare of the hundreds of thousands of young people now isolated at home. Will he look urgently at the reports of harms being caused to children by social isolation?
Gavin Williamson
Absolutely. It is incredible how social isolation has a real impact on young people. Children miss out on so much from not being at school— not just their teacher’s input but socialisation with friends. I am always happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss this and what more we can do to support schools, teachers and the education community to support our children.
Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP) [V]
Where and when will families be able to find out exactly what free services the mobile operators are providing, and how will the Secretary of State make sure that it is as straightforward as possible to access? Is he making sure that the devolved Governments are fully looped in on this and that they will get any Barnett consequentials of additional spending on laptop and tablet distribution?
Gavin Williamson
We of course always work closely with the devolved Governments. The benefits of the Union are demonstrated in the fact that we are able to work together and at considerable scale to deliver benefits to all parents and children. Any additional spend on anything has Barnett consequentials, which means that, again, Scotland benefits from being in the United Kingdom and the financial support that the whole UK gains from being together.
Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con) [V]
I know from my own children that a live lesson taught online is much more effective than learning resources being placed online. While teachers always need to be able to use their discretion to take account of specific circumstances, can my right hon. Friend assure me that the default expectation during this lockdown is for live online teaching?
Gavin Williamson
We have already set out really detailed guidance for all schools, setting the expectation levels for all schools and what they provide to pupils. We recognise that there will be a blend in the range of different teaching, but we have set clear expectations and if schools fall below them, parents can take recourse either with the school directly or ultimately through Ofsted.
Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab) [V]
As students have been advised not to return to university for the foreseeable future, most will be left paying for accommodation that they cannot use. It is clearly unfair that students renting private accommodation will be left thousands of pounds out of pocket, and the Government’s miserly £20 million contribution to the university hardship fund obviously is not enough. Does the Education Secretary agree that the Government have a responsibility to refund students their accommodation costs?
Gavin Williamson
As I have already set out, before Christmas the Government recognised the need to give additional support to students, through the universities. That is why we put the additional financial arrangements in place to support them.
Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)
I put on the record my thanks to all the teachers and support workers in Telford. My single question to my right hon. Friend is whether he agrees that just handing out laptops is no substitute for the support and guidance a child receives from a dedicated, committed teacher. Will he do everything in his power to enable teachers to return to school, including considering vaccinations?
Gavin Williamson
I would very much like to add my thanks to all the teachers in Telford, especially as one of my daughters is very privileged to be able to benefit from those teachers in my hon. Friend’s constituency. I echo her point that supporting children’s learning is not just about giving them a device; it is about how that device is used and how that child is supported, and the work we have undertaken over the past few months to support that through the Oak National Academy and the resources that are available is an important part of that. In terms of vaccinations and testing, we will always be pushing at the boundaries to maximise that for our education settings right across the country.
Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab) [V]
The Secretary of State has placed the decision about whether to open maintained nursery schools on governing boards. Will he make public health a priority, and guarantee full funding during this crisis to relieve boards such as the Bedford Nursery Schools Federation of the feeling of being coerced into remaining open to protect their future viability?
Gavin Williamson
We recognise that there are a lot of nursery schools that want to be in a position to open their doors. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers I gave earlier in this session about the reasons why we took that decision.
Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con) [V]
I thank the Secretary of State for updating the House and answering questions so fully. Could he tell me: if a university student has travelled back to their halls of residence and now is going to receive remote learning, should they stay at university, or should they return home?
Gavin Williamson
We would encourage that university student to stay where they are, in order to be able to conduct their remote learning, although obviously university students who are not doing practical subjects should not have returned to university at this stage.
Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD) [V]
Students in Bath and across the country feel massively let down. They are paying full tuition fees on top of rent for accommodation that they are not allowed to live in—we have just heard that answer from the Secretary of State. I am aware that this question has been asked several times already this afternoon, but we have not had a proper answer yet, so will the Secretary of State now commit to the rapid implementation of a review of this academic year, with the power to make recommendations for financial compensation?
Ms Nusrat Ghani (Wealden) (Con)
I share my right hon. Friend’s concern over schools being closed, especially for children in Wealden who do not have access to technology. Can he double confirm that those children without access to tech are now seen as vulnerable, and can immediately access physical education—I mean, attend school—and will not have to jump through hoops to be able to get into school?
Gavin Williamson
I can absolutely confirm that. That was issued in our initial guidance on school closures back in March last year. We have repeated that self-same guidance all the way through where schools have been in an unfortunate position, because we have had to recognise that during the latter stages of last year, there were schools that were closed, and even during that time children who did not have access to that type of education were able to access education settings.[Official Report, 20 January 2021, Vol. 687, c. 4MC.]
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
In order to allow the safe changeover of colleagues in the Chamber, I will now suspend the House for three minutes.
Education
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 3 months ago)
Ministerial CorrectionsRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Gavin Williamson
The fundamental problem with this year’s exams is that we tried to award grades without actually holding exams. We will not be repeating that same mistake again. With the measures that I have outlined, we are confident that every student who is preparing to sit exams this summer will be awarded a qualification.
[Official Report, 3 December 2020, Vol. 685, c. 436.]
Letter of correction from the Secretary of State for Education, the right hon. Member for South Staffordshire (Gavin Williamson).
An error has been identified in my statement.
The correct statement should have been:
Gavin Williamson
The fundamental problem with this year’s exams is that we tried to award grades without actually holding exams. We will not be repeating that same mistake again. With the measures that I have outlined, we are confident that every student who is preparing to sit exams this summer will have the opportunity to be awarded a qualification.
Education: Return in January
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
With permission, I would like to make a statement regarding our plans for bringing children back to school this academic term.
Dealing with this pandemic has always been an exercise in managing risk. Throughout, we have been adamant that the education of children is an absolute priority and that keeping schools open is uppermost in all our plans.
The magnificent efforts of all the leaders, teachers and staff in all our schools and colleges have ensured that settings are as safe and covid secure as possible, but we must always act swiftly when circumstances change. The evidence about the new covid variant and rising infection rates has required some immediate adjustment to our plans for the new term. This is, of course, a rapidly shifting situation, but some things remain constant. We continue to act to preserve lives and safeguard the national health service, and we continue to protect education by putting children first. Above all, our response is proportionate to the risk at hand and makes every use of the contingency framework that we put in place earlier this year.
The latest study we have from Public Health England is that covid infections among children are triggered by changes in the community rate. The study also says that the wider impact of school closures on children’s development would be significant. I am quite clear that we must continue to do all we can to keep children in school. Taking all those factors into account means that we have had to make a number of changes for the new term in order to help break chains of transmission and to assist with keeping all our children and education settings as safe as we can. The fact that we have managed to do that so successfully throughout the entire pandemic is due to the incredible dedication of all our teachers, leaders and support staff, and I know that the House will join me once more in thanking them for everything that they continue to do to keep children learning as safely as possible.
Accordingly, we will be opening the majority of primary schools as planned on Monday 4 January. We know how vital it is for our younger children to be in school for their education, wellbeing and wider development. In a small number of areas where the infection rates are highest, we will implement our existing contingency framework such that only vulnerable children and children of critical workers will attend face-to-face. We will publish that list of areas today on the gov.uk website.
I would like to emphasise that this is being used only as a last resort. This is not all tier 4 areas and the overwhelming majority of primary schools will open as planned on Monday. The areas will also be reviewed regularly, so that schools can reopen at the very earliest moment. Ongoing testing for primary school staff will follow later in January and we will be working to establish an ambitious testing programme, helping to break chains of transmission and reducing the need for self-isolation where students and staff test negative for the virus.
We have already announced our intention for a staggered return to education this term for secondary age pupils and those in colleges. Because the covid infection rate is particularly high among this age group, we will allow more time so that every school and college is able to fully roll out testing for all its pupils and staff. I would like to thank school leaders and staff for all their ongoing work in preparing that. This kind of mass testing will help to protect not just children and young people; it will benefit everyone in the community. It will break the chains of transmission that are making infection rates shoot up. That, in turn, will make it safer for more children to physically return to school.
All pupils in exam years are to return during the week beginning 11 January, with all secondary school and college students returning full time on 18 January. During the first week of term after 4 January, secondary schools and colleges will prepare to test as many staff and students as possible, and will be open only to vulnerable children and the children of key workers.
The 1,500 military personnel committed to supporting schools and colleges will remain on task, providing virtual training and advice on establishing the testing process, with teams on standby to provide in-person support if schools require it. Testing will then begin in earnest the following week, with those who are in exam years at the head of the queue. This is in preparation for the full return of all pupils in all year groups on 18 January in most areas. To allow this focus on the establishment of testing throughout the first week of term, exam year groups will continue to have lessons remotely, in line with what they would receive in class, and only vulnerable children and the children of critical workers will have face-to-face teaching.
As with primary schools, we will apply our existing contingency framework for education in areas of the country with very high rates of covid infection or transmission of the virus. This will require secondary schools and colleges to offer face-to-face education only to exam years, vulnerable children and the children of critical workers, with remote education for all other students if they are in one of the contingency framework areas. We are also asking universities to reduce the number of students who return to campus at the start of January, prioritising students who require practical learning to gain their professional qualifications. All university students should be offered two rapids tests on return to reduce the chance of covid being spread.
To support remote education and online learning during this period, the Government expect to deliver more than 50,000 devices to schools throughout the country on 4 January alone, and more than 100,000 altogether during the first week of term. That is in addition to the 560,000 devices that have already been delivered, as we continue to aim for a target of distributing more than 1 million devices for the children who need them most. The programme is now being extended to include students aged 16 to 19 in colleges and schools.
So often, we have had to close things down to try to beat this awful disease, but with schools our best line of attack is to keep them open, using the mass-testing tools that we now have available to ensure that children are able to continue to gain the benefit of a world-class education. As we continue to hear more encouraging news about the vaccine roll-out, I am more determined than ever that children will not have to pay the price for beating covid. I have spoken many times of my determination that we cannot let covid damage the life chances of an entire year of children and students. With these plans, which allow for rapid testing and the controlled return of schools, I am confident that we can minimise the latest health risks posed by the virus. I commend this statement to the House.
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab) [V]
Before I begin, I put on record my thanks, and the thanks of the whole Labour party, to every leader, teacher and lecturer and the support staff, early years professionals and social workers who have moved mountains to keep children and young people safe and educated in the face of enormous odds. They deserve not just the thanks of this House but genuine support, and I hope that when he stands to speak again the Secretary of State will give more information about that support.
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement, but the truth is that we should not be in this position. Only days before many schools should have been opening again to all pupils, the Secretary of State has announced that many will not be returning as planned. This delay and disruption to children’s education is a direct result of the Government’s failure: they have lost control of the virus and now they are losing control of children’s education. The cost to pupils, the pressure on staff and the challenges for families caused by school closures are huge, but we know that action must be taken to control the virus. Is the Secretary of State confident that the measures he has announced today will control the virus? Will he publish the advice on this issue from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies?
There is consensus across the House that the best place for children is in school, but the Government have failed to give schools the support they need to make that happen. For months, Labour has been calling for mass testing in schools. The Secretary of State announced it just before schools broke up for Christmas, creating huge additional work for overstretched school staff, but just two weeks later it is clear that his plan has failed and that many schools will not open as planned next week. Can he tell us how many schools now have testing infrastructure in place and how many will have it next week and the week after? Can he guarantee that every school will have the testing it needs when it is due to open again?
The Secretary of State’s announcement that some primary and secondary schools will not reopen to pupils in January will be a cause of huge concern to parents. Can he tell us how many primary and secondary schools will not open and how many pupils will be affected? Will students not in exam classes receive remote teaching while their school is closed? I am hugely concerned that even with school open to them, the most vulnerable children may simply not attend. Can the Secretary of State tell us how he plans to keep them safely in school in the weeks ahead?
I am glad that the Secretary of State announced an expansion to remote learning, but I remain concerned that it is not sufficient to support all pupils. Can he guarantee that every pupil will have the device and the connectivity that they need to learn, and will he ensure that that is available for every child whose school is not open?
Will there be any support for parents with children who cannot attend school? Can the Secretary of State confirm that parents can be furloughed if they have childcare commitments? Can that happen on a flexible basis that allows parents, particularly mothers, to balance work with caring for their children?
Many people who are clinically extremely vulnerable will be concerned about a return to school, whether they are a vulnerable parent of a child or a vulnerable member of staff. What reassurance and support can the Secretary of State give them?
It has been reported in recent days that teachers will be prioritised for vaccination, but an announcement today suggested that there would not be prioritisation based on occupation. I understand the clinical priorities for the first phase of the vaccination programme, but does the Secretary of State believe that not only teachers but all school staff, including in special schools, should be prioritised for vaccination thereafter in order to protect them and safeguard children’s education?
Turning to exams, the Government’s failure to get a grip on the virus has caused huge disruption to pupils’ education—disruption that will continue into the new year. Will the Secretary of State be making any changes to his plans to reflect that? Labour has said time and again that there needs to be a credible plan B in the event of disruption continuing that means exams cannot take place fairly. This is now urgent. Over 100,000 young people will be taking exams in the next few weeks for BTECs and other vocational qualifications. Can the Secretary of State tell us what he is doing to make those exams fair?
The Secretary of State told us weeks ago about the expert group on learning loss, but at the time he could not tell us who was on it, when it would sit or when it would report. Can he answer those questions today?
I welcome the decision to delay the return of students to university in January, which is sadly necessary for public health. Can the Secretary of State confirm that he has discussed this with unions and university and student representatives?
We should never have been in the position we are in today. If the Government had acted more quickly, followed the science and given schools the support that they needed throughout this pandemic, we would not be facing a new year with this new wave of infections and huge disruption to the lives of pupils, their families and staff across our education system. The Government have lost control of the virus, and it is children and young people across the country who are paying the price.
Gavin Williamson
I thank the hon. Lady for echoing my words and my thanks to all teachers, leaders and all those who work in our schools, colleges and childcare settings for the wonderful work that they do.
The hon. Lady talks about what extra support we are giving those schools in rolling out the largest mass testing exercise that this country has seen to ensure that children are able to get back into school and have the benefits of being in school. We are supporting them not just by making sure that they have the equipment that is due to be delivered to all secondary school settings on 4 January, but with extra finance—a package of £78 million —in order to help them get this mass testing programme set up, established and there to test all students and all staff as they return to secondary school. This is about taking the opportunity to beat back this virus, have a real understanding of where the infection is within the community, and ensure that schools are even safer than they have already been.
The hon. Lady asks about the SAGE advice. As she knows full well, SAGE publishes its advice, and it will of course do so soon. The contingency framework was published and has been a public document for a number of months, so I am sure she will have had the opportunity to look at it. It makes clear that for schools that have been placed in part of a contingency framework, there must be the continued delivery of remote education. To be clear: children who are in exam group years will be returning to secondary school on 11 January, even if they are in a contingency framework area.
The hon. Lady rightly highlights the issue of vulnerable children. Those in our school system, as well as our local authorities and social workers, can be proud of the amazing work that they have been doing with those children who are most vulnerable in society. We must ensure that we do everything to get them attending school, so that they have the protection of school around them. Those efforts, working with local authorities, the police, and schools, will continue. Finally, as the hon. Lady says, many students are about to take examinations in technical and vocational qualifications in early January, and those assessments will continue, as planned, in the educational establishments that are delivering them.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con) [V]
I believe that my right hon. Friend wants to keep schools open and teachers and children safe, but I have real worries about the effect of school closures particularly hurting vulnerable children, and putting enormous pressures on parents. What risk assessments have the Government made regarding the impact of school closures for millions of pupils on educational inequality, wellbeing and mental health, especially when the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has stated that eating disorders among young people have gone up fourfold, partly because of school closures and social isolation? Will the Department introduce a tracker on individual pupils, at least those in exam years, working with schools and local authorities, to ensure that those at home get the learning they need? Will he ensure that teachers and support staff get priority for vaccinations, so that we can get our schools open again soon? Finally, will he thank teachers and support staff in my constituency of Harlow, who are doing all they can to keep children learning?
Gavin Williamson
I join my right hon. Friend in thanking the teachers and support staff who have done so much in his constituency of Harlow to keep children learning. The importance of school is why we continue to proceed with opening primary schools on 4 January. The importance of education is why we are rolling out the mass testing regime, to ensure that secondary school students across the majority of the country will be able to return to school. We know how important this is. Children need to be in school, which is why we will always do everything we can to resist knee-jerk reactions to close schools or colleges. We recognise how important it is for children’s life chances for them to be in schools.
My right hon. Friend raises the important issue of the impact of lost learning, and that is why we commissioned work with the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance Learning to do a close study on lost learning. We will be looking closely at the impact of that, especially among exam year cohorts, as well as on the wider school population, to ensure that that work is there to inform us in any future policy decisions.
Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP) [V]
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. I join others in recognising the work our teachers and school staff are carrying out in very challenging circumstances, and I hope they are managing to get some well-deserved rest over the Christmas break.
This new covid strain means that it is difficult to make concrete decisions and commitments for the future, but the problem is that Secretary of State is once again making last-minute decisions that leave schools with absolutely no time to plan. Will he therefore outline how his actions align with the advice received from SAGE?
Ongoing testing for school staff is welcome, but anyone who has spent any time in primary or secondary schools will know that these are busy, often tightly packed environments. According to Professor Neil Ferguson, this new strain hints at a higher propensity to infect children. We are therefore asking teachers, some with underlying health conditions, to work in a potentially risky environment. NHS and frontline care staff must of course be prioritised for the vaccine, but will the Secretary of State ensure that, following those groups, teachers are a priority for getting the vaccine?
Let me finish by saying that there is a massive difference between posting activities online and actual live online teaching and learning, with realtime interactions between a teacher and their class. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that schools have the capacity and bandwidth to deliver proper online learning? Will he accept that he may need to amend his current strategy if the need arises?
Gavin Williamson
I thank the hon. Lady for her comments and for recognising that we are in a rapidly changing situation. We sometimes have to adapt our responses as a result of the changing coronavirus, and I know that the Scottish Government have faced similar challenges to the UK Government.
We recognise that this new strain means that we have to take a different approach. That is why we are saying that the mass testing regime we are rolling out in our secondary schools has to move from being optional and an offer to schools to being something we require schools to do. Schools are a unique environment, and it is important that we put as many protections in place as we can.
Like the hon. Lady, I want to see all teachers right up there in the best possible position to be vaccinated, so that they can carry on the incredibly important work of keeping children in education. I am incredibly pleased that we are in a position to ensure that primary schools are opening on 4 January and that secondary schools will be welcoming back children in the exam cohorts on 11 January and all other pupils on 18 January.
James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con) [V]
We have obviously had fantastic news today about the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. May I therefore join the previous two speakers, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), the Chair of the Education Committee, and urge my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to do what he can within current policy to ensure that teachers are priorities? Does he not agree that were we to vaccinate as many teachers as possible as soon as possible, that would not only make schools safer and boost teacher morale but reduce the pressure to close schools in the first place?
Gavin Williamson
I 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.
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD) [V]
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?
Gavin Williamson
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.
Mike Wood (Dudley South) (Con) [V]
My children are in the next room paying rather more attention than is usual to the House’s proceedings this afternoon. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to help schools and colleges to take up the offer that the Government have made to provide rapid testing, which will be so vital in helping to keep children, teachers and, indeed, parents safe?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend makes an important point. This is not just about helping schools, or just about helping pupils and that workforce within the schools, but about helping the families with school-age children. It is helping the whole community push back the tide of this virus, because we will be testing more people than ever before. We will be testing literally millions of children every single week. Yes, we recognise that schools need that extra support. That is why we created the £78 million fund in order to be able to support them. The other week, we shared with schools information on how much money they will be eligible to get, but we do understand that there will be some schools that have unique problems or challenges in rolling out this mass testing. I am incredibly grateful to both Her Majesty’s armed forces for making themselves available and to Ofsted for supporting schools that are facing challenges in rolling out the mass testing programme to ensure that it is implemented in all secondary schools and all colleges, because this will benefit everyone in school, everyone in college and everyone in the community.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab) [V]
Like so many frontline workers, teaching staff are deeply committed to their profession, but they have also been among the most vulnerable, particularly given that 12 to 17-year-olds have been a major vector for transmission. I spoke with head teachers just before Christmas and they were left angered by the Government’s late announcement to introduce testing without any support and little direction. Today we hear that there will be a delay to schools reopening. May I ask the Secretary of State just two points? As I asked him back in November, will he prioritise frontline line teaching staff for vaccinations given the political will to keep schools and colleges open as much as possible? Secondly, given that so many students will be taking BTECs and other technical and vocational exams in the next few weeks, what support will the Government be providing to those students and the staff assisting them?
Gavin Williamson
The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight the issue of those children taking BTEC qualifications, and we have made the decision about the importance of those youngsters being able to continue to take those qualifications over the coming weeks. On vaccination, he has picked up on a thread raised by previous questioners. Obviously, as Education Secretary, it is not within my remit to determine who will be receiving vaccinations. However, when we have worked through the groups that are most vulnerable to covid, I certainly hope that those working in our education settings are looked at in the most positive way to ensure that they are high up on the list of those receiving vaccinations.
Aaron Bell (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Con) [V]
May I join the Education Secretary in paying tribute to all those working in schools at this difficult time? I welcome his statement and the announcement that all secondary school and college students will receive two rapid tests at the start of the new term to identify asymptomatic cases. However—I know this as a father myself—it is the self-isolation that has caused such disruption for teachers, students and pupils, so will he confirm that his intention is to use rapid testing for staff and students who have come into contact with confirmed cases to help to reduce the need for self-isolation? Will that testing be available daily, if necessary?
Gavin Williamson
I can absolutely confirm to my hon. Friend that testing will be available both to students and to staff members in secondary school settings. Importantly, that means that we will be in a position to reduce the number of children and teachers who are having to self-isolate, and that it will be easier for education settings to work fully and as normally as possible. Most importantly, however, students will be in a position to maximise the amount of time they spend studying.
Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab) [V]
New College Pontefract is currently having to organise twice-weekly mass testing for 2,500 sixth-formers, but it has had no allocation of funding and no contact from the military. The college is having to find additional staff, and it has no space in which to do the tests.
Why have the Government not given schools and colleges a clear allocation of funding that will cover additional staff, Disclosure and Barring Service checks, and the other practicalities of delivering mass testing? They all want to do it, but the support from Ministers and the Department for Education is always too late or too chaotic. Frankly, they are not getting the support they need to keep children safely in education.
Gavin Williamson
I will certainly ensure that where schools can get that information is passed on to the right hon. Lady. It was published and made available to colleges and schools before Christmas, but I will ensure that my private office forwards it on. Information is readily available, and should hopefully be of assistance to her in her duties as a constituency Member of Parliament.
Felicity Buchan (Kensington) (Con)
I pay tribute to all teachers in Kensington and Chelsea, who have been heroic in their efforts to keep schools open, even with the very high case rates in London. Will my right hon. Friend clarify whether London will be part of the contingency framework? He mentioned a two-week delay, so can he clarify whether schools will definitely reopen after two weeks or if there will be a review at that point?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend is right to ask that question, and there will be a review after the two-week period. The hope and desire is that areas in the contingency framework will be moving out of it, but we will obviously be guided by the available public health and scientific advice. It is important that such decisions are made not on a regional basis, but on a local basis, because I want the maximum number of children in school at every stage. I do not want sweeping decisions; we should minimise the disruption to children, schools and parents as much as possible.
Mr Kevan Jones (North Durham) (Lab) [V]
It was disappointing that the Secretary of State did not make a statement to the House before the Christmas recess, and that mixed messages from his Department throughout Christmas have led to much anxiety among parents, teachers and students. I doubt whether his statement today will reassure many of them. On testing, what will be the role of local directors of public health? Who will support local schools and colleges, because 1,500 Army personnel will not be enough to fill that role? More importantly, what will happen to the data collected from that testing? Without a comprehensive locally based plan, he is in danger of making all the same mistakes as we have seen with the national test and trace system. Cannot the Government wake up to the fact that local plans need to be put in place, rather than plans being dictated nationally? That will not work.
Gavin Williamson
The right hon. Gentleman raises an important point about how vital it is to work with local directors of public health and local authorities. We believe that this will be of enormous assistance to those local authorities in identifying where more covid cases are. It will be an opportunity to deliver more rapid testing than has been delivered so far—not just in County Durham, but across the country. The right hon. Gentleman might have heard that extra support is being provided to schools and colleges so that they can stand up this testing. In some areas where schools and colleges have particular problems, we will look at supporting them with a team to help to get the mass testing up and established. Of course, the data being collected is vital. When youngsters test positive in a lateral flow test, that data will be fed immediately into the test and trace system, which is shared with local authorities.
Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) (Con) [V]
Teachers, parents and pupils all need certainty. They need to be able to plan the return to school and prepare for exams if they are going to happen, and they need to know whether they will need additional childcare. I commend my right hon. Friend for his ability to make changes when required, but will he please assure my constituents that this is a plan that will stick and that it will give them all the certainty that they are desperately calling out for?
Gavin Williamson
I certainly hope that it does give people confidence to know that primary schools in my right hon. Friend’s constituency of Romsey will be opening on Monday, that exam year groups will be returning to secondary school and colleges on 11 January, and that all year groups will be returning shortly after that.
Karin Smyth (Bristol South) (Lab) [V]
The Secretary of State has just said that we can be confident about what is happening next week but, frankly, as a parent and as a legislator, I have no confidence in what he has just said. I am none the wiser after his statement, having heard privately from health experts this afternoon. Parents have one question for the Secretary of State: how will we know, when we send our kids back to school this week or the week after, that it is safe to do so?
Gavin Williamson
What we have seen consistently since the start of June is that millions of children have safely returned to school thanks to the amazing efforts of so many teaching and support staff to create safe and secure environments for children to learn in and others to work in. We recognise that this new strain means we have to go that bit further—so much further. That is why we are introducing this mass testing scheme, the largest that this country has ever seen, to give parents and those who work in secondary schools extra confidence and belief that it is safe for those children to return, to help all who are engaged in this battle against covid to root out the disease, and ensure that those who are infected by it know that they are and can self-isolate.
Suzanne Webb (Stourbridge) (Con) [V]
I stand steadfast behind the Government in their determination to protect young people’s education, and Ministers are right to say that it is a national priority. There is a theme to my questions today, and rightly so, as we end what has been a difficult and challenging year for those working on the frontline. Will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking all those who work in schools in my constituency—from teaching assistants to teachers, heads of department, heads of schools, those who transport children to school, those who keep schools clean and safe and those in schools who have fed and watered our children—who often go above and beyond and are doing their utmost to protect our children’s education and keep our schools open? We owe them a debt of gratitude.
Gavin Williamson
I would certainly like to join my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour in thanking all those working in education settings in Derbyshire and right across the country. Many children in my constituency travel into Stourbridge to benefit from some of the brilliant schools in her constituency. Teachers and support staff have done an amazing job, and it is true to say that we are asking even more of them, but we are asking them to do more because we understand how vital it is to do everything possible to keep schools open and ensure that children continue to benefit from the education that we want every child to get.
Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
We all know that children benefit from being in school, and we have seen the gap between those from the richest and the poorest households widen during covid. The Secretary of State’s permanent secretary put great store in the tutoring programme when she appeared before the Public Accounts Committee nearly two weeks ago. Could the right hon. Gentleman give us an update on that, as well as on the steering group in his Department that is looking seriously at this issue and at the impact on more vulnerable pupils? Can he be precise about what he is doing to ensure that that gap, which had been narrowing massively in some of the excellent schools in my constituency, will not stay wide and get wider still as we come out the other side of the pandemic?
Gavin Williamson
The hon. Lady is right to talk passionately about the brilliant schools in her constituency. We have seen a transformation in schools in London as a result of reforms that were introduced by this Government and changes that were made in the latter part of the last Labour Government. We have seen education as an incredibly powerful tool in closing the attainment gap and the disadvantage gap, and London has been one of the real powers in driving that forward. The roll-out of the national tutoring programme is going as planned and we are very pleased with it. I am sure she will have noticed that, as part of the spending review, we want to see this as something that happens not just for one year, but over multiple years, because we believe that that is where the real benefit will be had.
I must confess—I am a little bit old-fashioned about this—that I will constantly do everything I can, whether it is in the hon. Lady’s constituency or mine, and take quite extraordinary measures, to keep schools open wherever it is possible to do so. If they do have to close, I will ensure that it is for the minimum time, because we see children suffering as a result of isolation. Both my children have had to self-isolate as a result of being in contact with other children with covid. Whether it is the national tutoring programme, the covid catch-up fund or the continued reforms that have been made to education, which have driven up standards so much in her constituency and mine, we must not lose sight of the fact that these reforms have to carry on to continue to drive standards and reduce the attainment gap.
Ruth Edwards (Rushcliffe) (Con) [V]
I have been contacted by school leaders who have highlighted their need to get clarity over future changes to school opening arrangements as quickly as possible. Will my right hon. Friend consider a suggestion from one deputy head in my constituency: publish the real-time data that influences these decisions via an online dashboard similar to the one published by the Department of Health and Social Care so that schools have as much time as possible to plan? Will he meet me and my constituent to discuss that in more detail?
Gavin Williamson
We are certainly always more than happy to look at different ways of being able to share as much information as possible with schools and communities about what best informs decisions. The Minister for School Standards, as I was about to leap to my feet, immediately wanted to meet my hon. Friend and her constituent, so I know that he will be organising that swiftly to be able to listen in greater detail to the thoughts and ideas not just about the current challenges that schools face, but about how we can continue to drive our reforms and improvements within the school system not just this year, but for decades into the future.
Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
Finally, the Secretary of State has come to Parliament to address the issues that have been swirling around everywhere over Christmas, which began with him ordering schools to go online for the first week of term on the last day of term, having taken legal action against councils that wanted to do the same thing only three days earlier. Today, he tells us that some primary schools will not open, but he has not actually published the list of those schools. This really now is a catalogue of incompetence from this Secretary of State. After months of our asking, he still has not answered the critical question of how the differential impact of missing school will be addressed, especially for the most disadvantaged. There has been no word on how exams this year can proceed on a level playing field, so if the test of his legacy is the attainment gap, I am afraid that it is one he is going to totally fail.
Gavin Williamson
It is always lovely to hear from the hon. Lady, and with such a festive backdrop behind her. Frankly, whatever we do, she will probably always be a little bit miserable about everything. We put in a £1 billion covid catch-up fund, making sure that we are supporting children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. We go above and beyond at every stage to ensure that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are given the most assistance. We on the Government side of the House have always understood that by actually preserving education, by making sure that children are in the position to be able to return to school at the earliest possible moment and to benefit from being in school, is the best way to give them the greatest advantages in life. I know the hon. Lady—it is not in her DNA to be able to give credit to any Government. I am not sure whether it would take £1 billion, £2 billion or £3 billion for her to acknowledge the fact that we are taking action.
Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con) [V]
I welcome the—[Inaudible.]—showing at this stage. Given that Amber Valley as a local authority area has some of the higher levels of cases in the country, will the Secretary of State confirm whether we are in the contingency area where schools will not be allowed to open at all? I hope that we are not, but will he publish the criteria for deciding in which area schools cannot open?
Gavin Williamson
We will be publishing details of those local authorities within contingency framework areas later today on the gov.uk website. We would want to see schools entering the contingency framework very much as an absolute last resort, where the public health evidence and public health advice are that it is important and vital to do so in terms of the management of covid infections.
Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
This academic year has been significantly disrupted. It is clear that many children have missed significant portions of their education while others have missed none, resulting in major inequalities, and, of course, disruption is getting worse. I ask not if but when will the Secretary of State announce an alternative plan to end-of-year assessments beyond this exam plan? Will he publish a full equality impact assessment on all end-of-year options so that we can see which will be the fairest?
Gavin Williamson
We all recognise that this has been an incredibly challenging year for all students. We have seen the impact on our own children and, of course, on children in our constituencies. As those who have been involved in education recognise, exams are the fairest and best form of assessment. We recognise that this is a unique year that has presented unique challenges. That is why we have taken the unusual and unique steps of ensuring that the generosity of grading is similar to and mirrors that of children who took exams in the previous year, and of taking action to make sure that there is advance notice of the areas that children will be tested on to make sure that they are in the best possible position to succeed and do the best they possibly can in those exams.
Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con) [V]
I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement and for adopting a pragmatic approach to the changing situation. I also thank all schools locally, many of which have been open and welcoming students throughout the pandemic. If all schools and students are not going to return as expected, however, I am concerned that students, particularly those from less well-off backgrounds, will miss out on their education. Can he confirm what extra support he and the Government will give to move to quality remote learning and maintain it for as long as it is needed?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend will be aware that I want to see all children in schools at all times, if possible. As he highlights, however, there will be certain areas of the country where additional action needs to be taken that will lead to the temporary closure of schools. That has happened across the country all the way through the pandemic, but we will probably see a little more of it over the coming term than we saw in the previous term. That is part of the reason why we made the announcement of the distribution of 1 million laptops to support remote learning in schools, and that is why we have made and continue to make increased investment in the Oak National Academy to support online learning and to make sure that there is a whole suite of lessons for every subject and every year group to support schools. It is an important resource for them to be able teach their children. That support will continue, as well as the covid catch-up fund of £1 billion, which has been made available to schools and colleges.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
Order. We still have a lot of business to get through today. I appreciate it is more difficult when people are participating virtually for them to work out how long they are taking in asking a question, but can I remind Members that a question should be a question? It is not a speech; it is just a question. If we have short questions, I know the Secretary of State will be able to give short answers.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab) [V]
Greater Manchester has been under restrictions since the end of July. Many areas got the virus right down only for rates to spike again when schools, colleges and universities went back. What happened in the autumn term did not work; it was too disruptive for too many. What guarantee can the Secretary of State give the House that that will not happen again? Where schools are closed, will he guarantee that all students will have the laptops and digital access required to learn remotely, because not all did last time?
Gavin Williamson
In tribute to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will be very brief in answering the hon. Gentleman. He probably heard in my earlier response that we are rolling out the distribution of 1 million laptops, more than 150,000 of which will be going out over the first couple of weeks of the coming term. The measures that we have seen meant that, actually, 99% of schools were able to open. We had excellent attendance at schools across the country, including in areas with high infection rates, and areas with high infection rates were able to maintain schools being open. The measures that we are taking, in terms of a mass testing regime, will ensure that schools can continue to remain open, which I am sure he will celebrate.
Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)
I want to thank all the teachers and support staff across Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke. I welcome my right hon. Friend’s commitment to mass testing. My main concerns, however, remain about children—particularly those in disadvantaged homes—and the work with catching up. The national tutoring programme is helping students in Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke to catch up, but we can also use alternatives to the Oak National Academy, which is online. Will my right hon. Friend speak to textbook publishers to see whether they will be willing at cost price to send textbooks to some of our most vulnerable children to enable them to sit their exams this year?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend so often has brilliant ideas, and I would be very happy to sit down with him to look at how we could do that. The Minister for School Standards is one of the greatest advocates in this country of textbooks and of their real impact and the support they offer students in their learning. We can sit down and discuss my hon. Friend’s thoughts and ideas.
Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab) [V]
All teachers want rapid testing, but at a time when they feel exposed and scared by the new variant—80% of my schools have cases anyway—will the Secretary of State develop stronger guidance in partnership with the profession, rather than see it as a unionised enemy to spring last-minute changes on? Can he provide any funding to the head of a convent I spoke to who is desperate to roll out testing? It operates on tight margins, but as it is an independent, she has been told that there is none.
Gavin Williamson
While we are not in a position to be able to provide independent schools with funding to roll out testing, we are providing them with facilities, testing equipment and all the other additional equipment that is required for the full testing regime. That is being provided to all schools and all settings that are teaching and providing education facilities for children in years 7 and above.
Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con) [V]
My right hon. Friend has been consistent throughout the crisis in insisting that we balance the need to keep people safe with the vital need for children to continue their education. In the light of that, can he reassure parents of primary school children in tier 4 areas such as Aylesbury that he has fully considered the safety of pupils and staff in reaching his decision that those primary schools can reopen next week and continue their very valuable education?
Gavin Williamson
As my hon. Friend will recognise, at every stage the safety of pupils and those who work in schools is at the very heart of every decision we make. We all recognise the impact of not being in school on children’s life chances. It is always important to balance the need to get children in with ensuring that they are in a safe environment. The measures we are taking on testing go so far to ensure that children not only get the benefit of that brilliant education but have the surety and confidence of knowing that they are going into a safe and secure environment.
Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab) [V]
Surely, given that Cheshire West and Chester has now been put into tier 4, we require an update from the Secretary of State on whether primary schools are going to reopen on Monday, and surely teaching staff should be prioritised for the vaccine. That just makes sense.
Gavin Williamson
I can assure the hon. Gentleman that primary schools in Cheshire West and Chester will be open on Monday.
Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con) [V]
May I join the previous questioner and ask my right hon. Friend whether he agrees that the best way to get schools back and working properly is to prioritise vaccines for teachers and pupils, who may be spreading the virus asymptomatically? Will he urge the Department of Health and Social Care to prioritise that?
Gavin Williamson
I would certainly urge the Department of Health and Social Care to prioritise vaccination of those who work in schools. All the vaccines currently available have not had or have not completed trials on people under the age of 18. I am sure my hon. Friend recognises the necessity of completing those trials before rolling out any vaccination programme to the younger cohorts.
Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab) [V]
If Greenwich schools are included in one of the contingency areas, I hope the Secretary of State will have the decency to apologise to parents in our borough. With that in mind, if mass testing shows up high infection rates among children in schools, what is the contingency plan other than disruption to children’s education continuing into the future? Surely the end point has to be vaccination in schools when it becomes available. Is he planning for when that can be done?
Gavin Williamson
I am not sure the hon. Gentleman heard my reply to the previous question, but none of the vaccines has been through full trials on children under 18. It would not be ethical to vaccinate children before the completion of the trials.
Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con) [V]
I declare an interest in that my daughter is a teacher. I agree with the approach the Secretary of State has outlined today. In a constantly changing situation, it is a sensible approach, but may I return to the question of vaccinations for teachers and staff? Clearly, in tier 3 and 4 areas it would be valuable, and coupled with the testing regime it would give teachers and parents the confidence that is needed. I accept that it is not in his remit, as he said, but may I urge him to press his Government colleagues to look again at it?
Gavin Williamson
I can absolutely confirm that I will respond to my hon. Friend’s pressing me to press others to do that. I know how important it is and what a heroic job so many in our schools have been doing to ensure continuity of education for all our children.
Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)
Pupils in Liverpool, Riverside have suffered disproportionate learning loss. We have heard the rhetoric on how this Government are levelling up, but it is time to move from the rhetoric to the reality. How many of the thousands of laptops have made it to those in the greatest need? Has that been monitored? The national tutoring programme is projected to reach just 1 in 6 pupils on free school meals. Will the Minister join me in thanking and supporting all education and support staff in my constituency, who have gone above and beyond since the first lockdown to support both children and our community throughout this pandemic?
Gavin Williamson
I join the hon. Lady in thanking all those in her constituency who have done so much to ensure continuity of education for so many children. The great city of Liverpool is one of the areas that have experienced very high infection rates. The teaching staff and communities making sure that schools stayed open and that children were able to get the benefit of education are a real testament to the hard work done by so many in the teaching profession.
Over 500,000 of the laptops have already been distributed to children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. Many hundreds of thousands more will be distributed in the coming weeks. That will benefit the hon. Lady’s constituents, mine and the constituents of us all.
Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)
Those who are due to sit their A-levels and GCSEs in 2021 have suffered, and continue to suffer, far more disruption than those who were due to sit them earlier this year. Will the Secretary of State accept that the only sensible and fair course of action is to cancel these exams too, to ensure that those students’ prospects are not damaged by taking exams that will have been rendered virtually meaningless?
Gavin Williamson
That is why we took action to ensure that the generosity of grading mirrors that of 2020 and have announced the exam subjects with advance notice, so that teachers and students, in the final months in the run-up to the exams, can focus on the topics and areas that will be examined. We believe that unless there are exceptional circumstances, exams are the fairest and best form of assessment. All the evidence points out that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds and children from black and ethnic minority communities are most disadvantaged by non-exam assessment and are given the greatest advantage when they sit exams.
Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab) [V]
Headteachers at primary schools, and at all schools, are willing and able to be partners in ensuring that our children get a proper education, but the Secretary of State has said that some primary schools will not open next week. What will the criteria be for schools not opening? When will the headteachers of those schools be given the courtesy of advance warning and treated with respect by the Secretary of State?
Gavin Williamson
I am sure that the hon. Lady is aware of the gold command chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which looks at all the decisions on tiering and other measures that need to be taken to deal with the pandemic. Those decisions will be made as part of that health structure through joint working by the Health Secretary and me, because the powers to close sit with me as Education Secretary. The hon. Lady will be familiar with gov.uk; notice and details of the areas that will be put in the contingency framework are published on that website.
Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Will he join me in thanking all education providers in Southend West for their heroic efforts during the coronavirus pandemic? Most importantly, will he ensure that when they return to school there is clarity in a practical sense regarding testing and the arrangements for the summer examinations?
Gavin Williamson
I thank my hon. Friend for raising the wonderful work that educators, teachers and support staff have done in providing the Rolls-Royce education that we want all children to benefit from. We have already published considerable guidance and support for schools as they roll out mass testing; we have also published information about the funding that they can receive, so that they can properly budget and provision for the type of support that they need to roll out that mass testing. With respect to the—I hope—small number of schools that have particular problems in establishing a testing regime, the armed forces have kindly stepped forward, along with Ofsted, to provide and establish support in the exceptional circumstances in which schools and colleges are having real problems.
Ian Byrne (Liverpool, West Derby) (Lab) [V]
I thank the Secretary of State for his kind words about the educators and teachers in Liverpool, who have done such an outstanding job.
Hundreds of thousands of working-class children educated in the state system are facing exams in complete despair. The inequality of opportunity for those children is due to the ineptitude of the Government’s response, including a lack of resource allocation and a complete failure to listen to teachers’ concerns. Will the Secretary of State meet me and headteachers in Liverpool, West Derby as soon as possible to discuss the resources and measures that are urgently needed from the Government?
Gavin Williamson
We always listen to what the teaching profession says and act taking its advice and guidance into account. That is how we crafted our response, including the creation of the covid catch-up fund and the national tutoring programme, which were very much targeted at children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. My right hon Friend the Minister for School Standards said he would be absolutely delighted and looks forward to meeting the hon. Gentleman and the wonderful professionals in his constituency who are so committed and dedicated to delivering the very best education for every child in Liverpool, West Derby.
Mr William Wragg (Hazel Grove) (Con)
I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement and recognise the invidious choices he has to make as Secretary of State. I also thank all the teachers and, in particular, the leaders of schools in the Hazel Grove constituency for their hard work over the Christmas holidays to prepare for mass testing on the schools’ return. Does my right hon. Friend think it somewhat ironic that later on today’s Order Paper is a motion to extend the Adjournment of the House to 11 January? What message does that send to our schools?
Gavin Williamson
I certainly join my hon. Friend in thanking the teachers and support staff in Hazel Grove for all the work that they do. We all recognise that we are placing great burdens on so many public servants. Our job as a Department is to give them as much support as possible. As a former Chief Whip, I think it is always best to focus on the Department and job that one has, which is why my focus is on education and schools.
Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab) [V]
According to Sutton Trust research, 15% of teachers report that a third of their students do not have adequate facilities to learn remotely from home. While I accept that some attempt has been made to rectify that, there are still too many pupils unable to learn online. Will the Secretary of State tell us how many pupils in those schools not reopening next month do not currently have access to online learning?
Gavin Williamson
The hon. Gentleman is right to point out that the best place for children to learn is in school, which is why we have at every stage driven as hard as possible to ensure that schools are open and remain open. That is why we are taking the actions we are—whether that is the mass testing regime or the fact that primary schools will open up on 4 January—because we realise that the best place for children to be is in school. We looked at the needs of schools for additional laptops and digital equipment and have expanded the original provision of 200,000 laptops to more than 1 million. As I touched on earlier, that distribution of additional laptops is currently ongoing and will continue over the coming weeks.
Sir David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con) [V]
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s flexibility and pragmatic approach at this difficult time, and also his determination to keep schools open. I praise all the teachers in my borough of Bexley for their commitment and hard work. However, as a strong supporter of social mobility, I am naturally concerned about the effect on the education of our most disadvantaged children during this coronavirus pandemic. Can he confirm that the additional financial support he has given will help to prevent them from being left behind in their education?
Gavin Williamson
I thank my right hon. Friend for highlighting something that he and I care so passionately about: ensuring that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are not left behind. That is why the national tutoring programme and the covid catch-up fund are so vital, not only for his constituents but for my constituents and all our constituents from those most disadvantaged communities. We recognise that this pandemic has impacted every community up and down the country. It is vital that we do everything we can to get them back on their feet, learning and closing that gap once more.
Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)
If I may continue on the theme of resources for home-based learning, we know that it is less satisfactory than children being at school but infinitely better than nothing. Unfortunately, nine months into the pandemic, only 700 laptops have been distributed in my borough, despite there being 5,000 children on free school meals. Will the Secretary of State explain why it has taken so long to make sure there is adequate access to laptops? Will he also advise everybody how many children in each constituency are deemed to be in need of capacity for home-based learning, so that we are able to assess just how effective the distribution of laptops has been?
Gavin Williamson
I will certainly happily provide the latest information on the distribution of laptops in the hon. Member’s constituency. The reason we announced the uplift to the distribution of 1 million laptops is that we recognise that the challenges of the pandemic require more digital provision. That is why we took the move to increase it from 500,000 to 1 million.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
This feels slightly like my own first day back at school, though rather near the bottom of this particular class.
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the importance of his mass testing programme for schools derives from the danger that infected children may be spreaders without symptoms?
Gavin Williamson
If my right hon. Friend is a new boy back in school, I think the Chief Whip is the headmaster, so he will probably be keeping a close eye on my right hon. Friend. However, it is good to see him back with the Conservative Whip, as I very much felt it was a great privilege to work so closely with him when he was Chairman of the Defence Committee and I was in a previous role.
My right hon. Friend is right that, actually, many children who have coronavirus do not exhibit symptoms of having coronavirus. This is why the move to mass testing in secondary schools is so important. It gives us the opportunity to identify so many more children who have the virus and just do not know it. That means that so many more households can be informed that they also need to be tested as they may also have the virus. This is an important step in defeating this virus and taking the battle to covid to ensure that we defeat it and are triumphant in doing so.
Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab) [V]
Testing for the virus is key to supporting a child to stay in school. When children are not in school, their learning is disrupted. It causes a lot of anxiety in relation to family plans and affects the ability of the adult or adults in the home to work. Can the Secretary of State confidently say to my constituents and to parents that schools will have adequate testing infrastructure and support in place for pupils and staff when both primary and secondary schools reopen, and does he agree that the vaccine should be prioritised for all staff working in education?
Gavin Williamson
I thank the hon. Lady for her question, and I can absolutely assure her that the roll-out of mass testing in secondary schools is properly supported. Schools will be getting the first batch of both equipment and tests on 4 January, and this is being distributed right across the country, with additional tests very rapidly following, to ensure that all pupils and all staff within schools can be tested. As I touched on in my statement, we are also looking at rolling out the testing mechanism, the screen testing and the serial testing for staff in primary schools. As I am sure the hon. Lady will appreciate, the ability to deliver testing in primary schools does present some challenges, because the age of pupils in primary school means they are not necessarily able to do it themselves. However, when we are in a position to go further on testing and home tests can be distributed, we will look at expanding the role of mass testing in schools even further.
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con) [V]
I would like to thank all the wonderful teachers and support staff across my constituency and to welcome plans for all secondary and college students to receive two rapid tests at the start of term. The Royal Air Force has already been helping to deliver rapid tests across Kirklees as part of mass community testing. Has the Secretary of State considered using military support on the ground in schools and colleges, having done such a wonderful job in extreme circumstances in the past few months, to help deliver mass rapid tests and take the pressure off some of our teachers?
Gavin Williamson
I join my hon. Friend in his thanks. I know that he served in the Royal Air Force for a number of years, so he has a particular fondness for our armed forces, as we all do. The armed forces have done an amazing job. Looking at the sheer number of schools across the country and the whole workforce within them, we felt that it would not be right or proper to ask the armed forces to deliver testing in every single secondary school. That is why we have provided additional financial support for schools to help them deliver the mass testing regime. We are very fortunate that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has agreed a Military Aid to the Civil Authorities request that means that we are able to provide military support to schools that are really struggling to set up a testing regime. We believe that when they are set up, schools will be in an excellent position to keep running and have a real impact in driving down coronavirus infection rates in my hon. Friend’s constituency and all our constituencies.
Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab)
I, too, pay tribute to schools, teachers, support staff and young people in my constituency for the incredibly effective way that they responded to the coronavirus crisis in the autumn. However, as the Secretary of State knows, the pressures on schools in tier 4 areas are significant, and they are growing all the time. Will he commit to reviewing the level of support that is being provided? It is clear that, with just half a member of the armed forces per English secondary school, that level of support is quite meagre.
Gavin Williamson
We are providing schools with the resources to deliver the testing programme themselves. We would look at providing armed forces personnel only in the most exceptional circumstances where a school, for whatever reason, is unable to set up a testing regime. We have given schools the extra time as well as the £78 million in order for all secondary schools to establish a regime. In exceptional circumstances we have teams, supported by the armed forces and Ofsted as well as the Department for Education, to help get a regime up and running and support schools so that every secondary school can have a mass testing regime.
Educational Settings: January 2021 Return and Funding
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 4 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
As a Government we have made it a national priority that education and childcare settings should continue to operate as normally as possible during the coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak, and we have continued to work with the profession to continue full-time face-to-face education.
Since the start of the academic year, the continuing efforts of leaders, teachers and staff across education and childcare has ensured that settings remain as safe and covid-19 secure as possible. That remains the case but the return at the start of January 2021 will take place in exceptional circumstances, when winter risks are acute and at a critical point in national efforts to control the virus.
We announced on 15 December 2020 that we will be deploying the latest rapid-result coronavirus tests to schools and colleges from January to enable weekly screening for the workforce and daily testing for the workforce and students who are a close contact of a positive case. This will help us to find those with the virus and isolate them quickly. It will also help us reduce the need for self-isolation of close contacts of positive cases, keeping staff and students in education and childcare. We will continue to work closely with schools, colleges, directors of public health and directors of children’s services to implement this plan.
Today we can announce that we will be offering all secondary schools (including all-through schools and middle deemed secondary schools), colleges, special schools and alternative provision settings the help, support and supplies to test as many secondary-age and FE students as possible as they resume education in January. We have prioritised these settings because they have seen more disruption so far, associated with older children and young adults having had higher rates of covid-19. This will help identify asymptomatic cases—which make up a third of all cases—limiting the spread of the virus, and we strongly encourage all schools and colleges to participate. In middle deemed secondary schools, testing would be for years 7 and 8 pupils.
Already, the implementation of safety measures and the system of controls in place in education settings creates an inherently safer environment for children, young people and staff, in which PHE and DHSC have confirmed the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. Given the exceptional public health circumstances, when settings return in week commencing 4 January, testing will help to identify asymptomatic cases more quickly. This will avoid individuals carrying the infection unknowingly and potentially spreading it in the local community.
For the week commencing 4 January, secondary schools (including middle/all-through schools, special schools and alternative provision) and colleges will only offer on-site provision for vulnerable children and young people, children of critical workers, those studying for or taking exams this academic year. They will provide remote education to all other pupils, before a full return to school and college from 11 January. The groups attending school and college from 4 January will be prioritised for testing, alongside the school workforce. Schools that wish to can use an extra inset day on 4 January to prepare to deliver the testing. Early years settings and primary schools will be open as normal in week commencing 4 January
Testing will not be mandated and all students will be expected to attend school or college from 11 January regardless of whether a test has been undertaken (unless they are self-isolating because they have tested positive for coronavirus, have symptoms or have been advised to isolate by NHS Test and Trace).
To deliver testing at this speed and scale, armed forces personnel will support directly through planning with schools and colleges, in every local area. The remaining testing workforce will be made up of volunteers and agency staff and reasonable costs will be reimbursed. Schools and colleges that opt in will need to provide a few members of staff to support the testing programme.
Testing, along with existing infection prevention and control measures such as ventilation, increased hygiene, and wearing of face coverings in communal areas of secondary schools where appropriate, can limit the number of children and young people missing out on face-to-face education because they have to isolate.
We realise that this year has been incredibly difficult for staff, students, pupils and parents. I want to thank all involved in education and childcare for their tireless dedication. The hard work of our education workforce has already substantially reduced the risk of transmission of covid-19 within education settings, and we will now use this new testing approach to be sure to reduce the risk of local community transmission in this age group and ensure more young people are able to remain in education, benefiting from the national priority of keeping education open for all.
This policy will be kept under review in light of scientific evidence, and the Government will provide further advice if necessary.
Today I am also glad to confirm school and early years revenue funding allocations for 2021-22. This announcement covers the dedicated schools grant (DSG), the pupil premium and the free school meal supplementary grant. The DSG distributes the second year of the multi-billion school funding settlement that I announced to Parliament on 3 September 2019. Compared to 2019-20, core school funding is increasing by £2.6 billion for 2020-21, £4.8 billion for 2021-22, and £7.1 billion for 2022-23. In addition, we continue to fund increases in teacher pay and pension costs from 2018 and 2019, worth £2 billion in 2021-22.
The distribution of the DSG to local authorities is set out in four funding blocks for each authority: a schools block, a high-needs block, an early years block, and a central school services block. In July 2020, the Minister of State for School Standards informed Parliament of the publication of primary and secondary units of funding for the schools’ block, and the provisional allocations for the high-needs block and central school services block. In the DSG, these have now been updated with the latest pupil numbers to show how much each local authority will receive in 2021- 22.
In the schools’ block, funding in 2021-22 is increasing by over 3% per pupil, or 3.5% overall, compared to this year. In the high-needs block, funding to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is increasing by 10%.
I am also confirming the final hourly funding rates for the free early education entitlements in 2021-22. As a result of the £44 million investment in 2021-22 announced by the Chancellor in the spending review, we will increase the hourly funding rates for all local authorities for the two-year-old entitlement by 8p an hour. Funding for the three and four-year-old entitlement will increase by 6p an hour in the vast majority of areas. We are increasing the minimum funding floor for the three and four-year-old offer to £4.44 per hour.
Twelve local authorities have had their 2020-21 hourly funding rates for three and four year-olds protected by the “loss cap” in the early years national funding formula, to ensure that they do not face large drops to their funding rate. Funding for 10 of these local authorities will be maintained in 2021-22 and two will see an increase to their hourly rate as they come off the loss cap in 2021-22.
I can also confirm that supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools will continue for the whole of the 2021 -22 financial year, and the Government’s commitment to the long-term funding of maintained nursery schools is unchanged.
Today, I am also announcing that the pupil premium will continue in 2021-22 with the same per pupil funding rates as in 2020-21. We will use the October 2020 census to calculate individual school-level allocations. This will ensure that this targeted investment can continue to support the most disadvantaged children in our schools.
Finally, I am also confirming that the free school meal supplementary grant, which was due to end in 2019-20, will be extended for one additional year, to 2020-21.
[HCWS684]
Education: Covid-19 Testing
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 4 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
As a Government we have made it a national priority that education and childcare settings should continue to operate as normally as possible during the coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak, and we have continued to work with the profession to continue full-time face-to-face education.
We are therefore deploying the latest rapid-result coronavirus tests to schools and colleges from January. This will help us to find those with the virus and isolate them quickly to break chains of transmission. It will also help us keep close contacts of positive cases—whether staff or students—in education as we will test them every day rather than asking them to self-isolate.
Testing, along with existing infection prevention and control measures such as ventilation, increased hygiene, and wearing of face coverings in communal areas where appropriate, can ensure pupils are given the best chance of continuing face-to-face education.
The testing programme builds on the success of testing pilots in schools and colleges over the past few months. It will start with secondary schools and colleges, with staff eligible for weekly rapid tests.
This will help identify asymptomatic cases—which make up a third of all cases—limiting the spread of the virus.
Staff and students who are close contacts of positive cases will be eligible for daily testing, preventing the need for self-isolation. Only if a daily test returns a positive result will the person need to isolate.
Using daily testing for close contacts of positive cases will help tackle covid-19 related absence among the work- force and students, allowing them to continue in face-to-face education, with all the benefits that this brings.
To support delivery of asymptomatic testing in schools and colleges, settings will be able to apply for reimbursement for reasonable administrative costs such as staff time.
We realise that this year has been incredibly difficult for staff, students, pupils and parents. I want to thank all involved in education for their tireless dedication. The hard work of our education workforce has already substantially reduced the risk of transmission of coronavirus within education settings and we will now use this new testing approach to ensure more young people are able to remain in education, benefiting from the national priority of keeping education open for all.
As with all policy, this will be kept under review in light of scientific evidence, and the Government will provide further advice if necessary.
[HCWS656]
Lifetime Skills Guarantee
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 4 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
In his announcement about the Lifetime Skills Guarantee in September, the Prime Minister set out his vision to transform the training and skills system for the 21st century economy and help the country to build back better from the coronavirus pandemic. As a country, and as a Government, we believe passionately that everyone should be helped to reach their potential, and that opportunities to do so, across a lifetime, must be increased. Today I am pleased to be able to update both Houses on key steps we are taking to deliver the Lifetime Skills Guarantee through a major extension to the level 3 entitlement for adults, which will be funded from the National Skills Fund.
Now more than ever we need to ensure adults can upskill and retrain, to support the immediate economic recovery and to boost the nation’s skills with the expertise employers need, which is a key part of the Government’s plan for jobs. It is also vital that we deliver for the large number of adults who do not go straight from school to university.
The National Skills Fund is a long-term, substantial investment of £2.5 billion—£3 billion including devolved Administrations—which will drive adult retraining and support our ambitious agenda for reform of further education. It is essential that adults reap the benefits of our reform through a skills system that meets their needs along with the needs of employers across the nation.
Starting from April 2021, any adult looking to achieve their first full level 3— which is equivalent to a technical certificate or diploma, or two full A-levels—will be able to access a fully funded course. This will give them new skills and greater prospects in the labour market. We will ensure that if they choose to study a short course this will not prevent them from taking a further course. We plan to spend £95 million on this important new commitment in year one. This will include a funding uplift for qualifications included in this offer, to support providers to scale up their level 3 provision for adults and meet the needs of learners as we build back better from the pandemic.
It is important that this is a truly national offer, and we must ensure that all learners can access this valuable training regardless of where they live. We are working closely with providers and local areas, including the mayoral combined authorities and Greater London Authority, to ensure this national offer is delivered effectively across the nation and that funding is targeted at valuable subjects that are a key priority for the nation.
We have identified a range of qualifications that will meet current and future skills needs across the nation, and have engaged with business representatives, local areas and education and training providers on the development of the qualifications list. We have focused on provision that ensures good returns for individuals, employers and the economy, as well as those most critical skill areas.
We will keep the course list under regular review to ensure it adapts to the changing needs of the economy. Adults accessing this new level 3 adult offer can do so in the confidence that they will be gaining skills that are valued by employers and will help them secure a better job that may have previously been out of reach. There will be a facility for awarding organisations and local areas to suggest additions to the list.
The courses on offer will deliver a wide range of skills that will open the door to many jobs and sectors. Qualifications in these sector subject areas will help individuals access new jobs and, in many cases, earn higher wages too. From April we will be offering access to qualifications to support the following areas:
Engineering
Building and Construction
Manufacturing Technologies
Transportation Operations and Maintenance
Business Management
Public Services
Accounting and Finance
Medicine and Dentistry
Horticulture and Forestry
Health and Social Care
ICT Practitioners
ICT for Users
Mathematics and Statistics
Science
Agriculture
Nursing and Vocations and Subjects Allied to Medicine
Child Development and Wellbeing
Environmental conservation
Teaching and lecturing
Warehousing and distribution
We will continue to build on our wider plans for adult skills and I will update the House on our progress in due course. In the meantime, we will continue to engage closely with stakeholders as we progress and develop detailed plans for the National Skills Fund, including our consultation planned for spring next year.
[HCWS632]
Exams and Accountability 2021
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 4 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement regarding testing and examinations in schools and colleges next year.
The pandemic continues to cause disruption throughout our education communities and, once again, I pay tribute to all our teachers, school leaders and support staff for the enormous efforts that they are making to keep young people of all ages learning. I also pay tribute to the global teacher of the year award winner, which recognises the most outstanding teacher from around the world. Our very own Dr Jamie Frost, maths lead at Tiffin School in Kingston-upon-Thames, has been shortlisted for this after his tuition website went viral during lockdown, helping millions of pupils in the United Kingdom and around the world to continue their studies at home. He has already won the covid hero award, and I am sure that the whole House joins me in wishing him luck with the overall prize. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”]
We will not let covid damage the life chances of an entire year of students by cancelling next year’s exams. Exams are the best form of assessment that we have, and we are therefore taking steps to ensure that any student preparing to sit them in 2021 has every chance possible to do their very, very best.
We support Ofqual’s decision that, in awarding next year’s GCSEs, AS and A-levels, grading will be as generous and will maintain a similar profile as those grades awarded this year. This is to recognise the exceptional circumstances under which students and teachers continue to work and to make sure that students are not at a disadvantage compared with previous years.
Ofqual is also working with the exam boards to make sure that students studying for vocational and technical qualifications and other general qualifications benefit from the same generous approach. I know that students and teachers are making enormous efforts to catch up with any lost learning. To support those most affected by the continuing disruption, at the end of January, students will be given advance notice of some of the topic areas that will be assessed in their GCSEs and A-levels. That means that they will be able to focus on these areas in more depth and target their revision accordingly. Students will also be given exam aids, such as formula sheets, in recognition of the time lost in the classroom and to give them more confidence and reduce the amount of information that they need to memorise in preparation for exams.
All these measures have been drawn up with the most affected in mind and we will be sharing the advance notice about what exactly the measures will entail with schools and colleges at the end of January. Students taking vocational and technical qualifications or other general qualifications can also expect a number of concessions, including a reduced number of units to be assessed. We want as many students as possible to be able to sit their exams and for that reason we have a contingency package to make sure that they can do so, including spacing exams more widely, as well as enabling vulnerable students to sit exams at home if they need to.
In the minority of cases where students cannot sit all their papers or where a very small number of pupils miss all of them, there will be means by which they can still be awarded a grade, including additional papers available after the main exam series.
The fundamental problem with this year’s exams is that we tried to award grades without actually holding exams. We will not be repeating that same mistake again. With the measures that I have outlined, we are confident that every student who is preparing to sit exams this summer will be awarded a qualification.[Official Report, 6 January 2021, Vol. 686, c. 4MC.] As the virus continues to be a fact of life for all of us, schools and colleges are making impressive efforts to ensure that education can continue for those students who must remain at home. We have reviewed and updated the guidance for remote education so that schools, parents and pupils all know exactly what to expect from it. Primary schools need to provide an absolute bare minimum of three hours a day on average of remote education, and secondary schools, an absolute minimum of at least four. Schools will also be expected to check and provide feedback on pupils’ work at least weekly as well as informing parents immediately where engagement is a concern. The Department will also ask schools to set out details of their remote provision on their websites so that parents can better understand their schools’ remote education offer.
As levels of covid infection continue to fluctuate, we know that different areas will experience varying levels of disruption to learning. We will therefore commission an expert group to assess any local variations and the impact the virus is having on students’ education.
I turn to the measures we are taking in respect of the school and college accountability framework for 2021. We need to ensure that the arrangements for inspection and performance measures are fair and reflect the current public health situation. They need to take into account the enormous challenges that schools and colleges have been facing, but, equally, we must continue to provide the information and reassurance that parents need about their children’s education. We will not be publishing the normal performance tables based on test, exam and assessment data next year. Instead, my Department will publish data on the subjects that students have taken, how well schools and colleges support their students to their next destination and attendance data, taking account of the impact of covid-19. We will also publish national and regional data on 2021 exams, tests and assessments. Importantly, we will make the exam data available to Ofsted and to schools, but we will not publish it in performance tables.
I will now let the House know how our plans for schools and colleges are affected by inspections. It is our intention that Ofsted’s routine graded inspections will remain suspended for the spring term but will resume in a carefully considered way from the summer term. In the meantime, Ofsted will carry out monitoring inspections in those schools and colleges most in need of support. That will include those currently judged inadequate and some in the “requires improvement” category. Inspectors will focus on areas that are particularly relevant at this time such as curriculum delivery, remote education and, importantly, attendance. There will also be a focus on those pupils who are particularly vulnerable. However, I stress that they will not make graded judgments and any inspection activity will be sensitive to be additional pressures that schools are working under at this time.
As in the autumn, Ofsted will also be able to inspect a school in response to any significant concerns about safeguarding but also about the delivery of remote education by that school. In both the early years sector and the independent schools sector, the intention is also that standard inspections will remain suspended for the spring, with assurance inspections in the early years and non-routine inspections in independent schools taking place in the meantime. I trust that provides the House with reassurance that we are providing the right balance in our accountability and inspection arrangements.
I will finish by outlining our proposal for the curriculum and testing in primary schools, recognising the particular challenges they face. Assessments in primary schools next summer will focus on phonics, mathematics and English reading and writing. That means that for 2021 only, we will remove all tests at key stage 1, the English grammar, punctuation and spelling tests at key stage 2, and science teacher assessments at both key stages. The introduction of a multiplication tables check will be postponed for a further year, but schools may use it if they want to. It is a resource available to all schools, and we encourage them to do so if they can.
We will also add more flexibility to the timetable, so if there is any disruption due to coronavirus in a school, pupils will be able to take the test when they return to the school. These measures will help us to address lost learning time and will give us a chance to support pupils in schools who need help. They will also provide vital information for parents and better help for pupils to make a successful step into the next stage of education—going to secondary school.
Everyone in all of our schools and colleges is working as hard as they can to make sure that no pupils lose out because of covid and that the future they are dreaming of is still very much within their reach. I am determined that the coronavirus will not jeopardise the life chances of this year’s pupils, and I am confident that the plan is the fairest way of doing this. I commend this statement to the House.
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement and for the advance copy of it. I also thank the Minister for School Standards for briefing my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting) and me yesterday. I also join the Secretary of State in congratulating Dr Frost and wishing him well for the finals of the global teacher of the year awards.
I am glad that the Government have finally responded to the pleas of students, their parents and teachers who have been asking for months how next summer’s exams will be conducted fairly. While I welcome measures to help pupils be assessed on what they have learned and ensure that reserve papers will be in place for pupils who might miss out, that performance tables will be suspended and that routine Ofsted inspections will not resume in January—many of them measures that Labour called for —today’s announcement still bakes in fundamental inequities between students who have suffered different levels of disruption to their learning. The Government have known since September that an ongoing pandemic would create huge challenges in schools, and for months they will have heard school leaders, parents and Labour Members calling for a credible plan to address them. It has taken until December to provide one, so can the Secretary of State tell us what took him so long? Why did he leave students in a horrible and uncertain limbo?
The truth is that the delay has limited the Department’s options. Had it acted sooner, it could have done more to make the system fairer. I welcome the decision to make the distribution of grades similar to last year’s to ensure that pupils sitting their exams this year do not feel unfairly disadvantaged, but we know that last year while grades rose across the board, some pupils—particularly those in private schools—were more likely to see a sharp rise. How will the Secretary of State ensure this year that the distribution of grades is spread evenly across schools and postcodes to ensure that the most disadvantaged pupils are treated fairly? Is he not concerned that providing information in advance about subject content will at best benefit pupils at random, with those who happen to have already covered the assessed material benefiting at the expense of those who did not, and at worst in fact mean that pupils who faced the greatest disruption to their learning lose the most?
There is significant support for greater optionality in exams. Indeed, the Secretary of State’s Department has taken exactly that approach with some exams already. It allows pupils to be assessed on what they have learned, with fewer pupils losing out at random. If it works for some subjects, can the Secretary of State explain clearly why it is not part of today’s announcement?
What steps is the Secretary of State taking to address the fact that over a million pupils were out of school this week? He talked about regional disparity, and we know that exam classes in some regions have faced disproportionate levels of disruption. Can he tell us when the expert group will report, why it has been established so late—I understand just last week—and will it include representatives of school leaders and teachers?
On remote learning, I note the Secretary of State’s requirements, but how many laptops have been delivered to students who need them? Why are we continuing to hear reports of schools receiving laptops only after students isolate, wasting valuable time getting them set up and delivered? Why has the national tutoring programme now been stretched more thinly across two years? Can he even guarantee that all students on free school meals will have access to tutoring?
Many students sitting exams next summer want to go on to university or college. What discussions is the Secretary of State having with colleges and universities to ensure that any additional support these students may need will be in place for them next September? Does he believe that any changes will be needed to the timing of university admissions? Can he tell us when pupils taking vocational and technical qualifications will receive further clarity, and what steps is he taking to clear the logjam in the testing of apprentices’ functional skills in maths and English?
Does the Secretary of State acknowledge that there are likely to be more appeals than in a normal year? How will he ensure that all students can access a fair appeals process? Will he also ensure that there are the markers with the time and resources needed to grade papers in time, particularly in the second exam window?
I want students to have the chance to show what they have achieved in the most challenging of circumstances, but after months of silence these proposals fall short of the fair exams that the Secretary of State promised. At best, this is a “requires improvement”.
Gavin Williamson
I am glad that the hon. Member could bring herself to welcome the measures, albeit slightly grudgingly, at the start. It is no thanks to the Labour party that schools are back and children are in schools. It is no thanks to the Labour party that we were getting over 1.6 million children back into school before—
Mr Speaker
Order. Is it possible to face me a little bit as well, Secretary of State?
Gavin Williamson
I know that you always love Secretaries of State to look adoringly at you, Mr Speaker. I have been dutifully rebuked.
The Labour party has never championed pupils, because it has not fought to get students back into schools. It was actually the Mayor of Greater Manchester who wanted to send children out of school and back home. But the Conservative party stands for getting children back into school.
The shadow Secretary of State highlighted a number of issues. It is disappointing that the official Opposition have not engaged in a positive debate. They could not even be bothered to respond to the Ofqual consultation about exams. They seem to have missed the opportunity. Maybe it got lost in the post—or maybe, quite simply, they just could not be bothered. We do recognise that there are significant challenges in delivering education at this time, which is why we have put together a package of truly unprecedented measures to assist schools, teachers, and, most importantly, pupils themselves.
I am sure that the hon. Lady would grudgingly acknowledge that all academic studies have continuously highlighted that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, including children from black and ethnic minority communities, are the ones who always outperform predicted grades when they sit exams.
Gavin Williamson
It is good to see that we have a common view—I note the chuntering from the hon. Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting), who is sat in the Opposition Chief Whip’s seat—on the importance of exams. We recognise that children will have missed out elements of the curriculum, but giving advance notice will give them and their teachers the opportunity to use that time to focus on the areas of the curriculum that they know they will be tested on. We are also recognising the importance of technical and vocational qualifications, and we will be looking at ensuring that information on those is shared at a similar time to information on GCSEs and A-levels.
The shadow Secretary of State highlighted some important issues, including the potential for extra appeals and ensuring that there are proper extra resources in place for that process; we will certainly be doing that. We recognise that there are challenges from giving extra learning time and moving most exams back by three weeks. For example, this will put added pressure on the exam boards. We are working closely with the exam boards to support them to get the right resources in place, and to deliver the grades as and when we would expect them—at the end of August.
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con) [V]
It is right that we have exams in some form next year, because that at least gives pupils much-needed structure. I thank the Secretary of State, because there is no easy or perfect option, but I have two questions that I would like to ask him. First, are we possibly baking grade inflation into the system, as we saw in 2020? Could we not ensure that grade boundaries are in line with 2019 results, or at least between 2019 and 2020 results, so that we can revert to the standards of 2019, while no one loses out, and start transitioning back to normality? From a social justice perspective, does inflating all the grades just move the goalposts, in that the difference between disadvantaged pupils and their better-off peers remains the same?
Secondly, we know from the DFE’s own data that 798,000 pupils in state-funded schools were not in school for covid-19-related reasons on Thursday 26 November. Is there a way that we could track every single child to assess the learning that he or she is getting from the school? Will my right hon. Friend give Ofsted a much stronger role to ensure that children are learning, and will he use the £143 million allocated to the catch-up programme to ensure that every pupil is prepared for this year’s exams, rather than rolling over that funding into next year?
Gavin Williamson
We have commissioned an Education Policy Institute study on the individual learning loss, and we are getting data into the Department on that. We will be asking the expert group to look at that and how best to address it. I take my right hon. Friend’s point: he would have preferred more of a middle ground in the grading between 2019 and 2020. I firmly believe that, for those children who have had to deal with so much in terms of the pandemic, it is really important that their exam grading is reflective of their work but recognises the fact that they have been through a tremendous amount this year. It would be unjust for them to have grades, having sat exams, that were substantially lower than the ones received in 2020.
Mr Speaker
Let us head up to Birmingham to see Jack Dromey. [Interruption.] He looks a lot younger! That was not Jack Dromey; we have not arrived in Birmingham yet, so we will head to North Thanet, to see Sir Roger Gale.
Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con) [V]
The work that my right hon. Friend does in connection with exams is likely to be considered wrong by some people, but I congratulate him on coming up with what is probably the least worst option available to him. He will remember that at Education questions a couple of weeks ago I raised the issue of SATs, which is of particular concern to primary schools this year. He touched on the testing regimes for primary school children and secondary school children. Could he expand on that and indicate precisely what he expects of teaching staff and whether he believes that, for this year only, assessment might be the way forward?
Gavin Williamson
My right hon. Friend is right that there is not an easy pathway, which I think the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) also recognises. Any route taken presents quite significant challenges in delivering assessments and examinations, but I believe that this is the fairest and most robust way of doing it. We have removed SATs from performance tables. That is an important measure, but SATs do present a really important way of measuring a child’s attainment and position, and they will be vital for schools in making that assessment and supporting children to catch up on lost learning. We hope that removing them from performance tables will remove a lot of the pressure that teachers sometimes feel and help with the delivery of SATs.
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD) [V]
Securing fairness for all students will be absolutely key, so while I welcome some of the measures that have been announced today that go in the right direction, I am worried that the creation of an expert group is simply kicking the fairness can down the road. Given the huge variations in learning between individuals, schools and local education authorities, when, specifically, will the expert group report on its proposals, and when will the House be able to scrutinise them?
Gavin Williamson
The whole set of measures that we have put in place, whether in extra learning time, changes to assessment, advance notice or giving exam aids, is to support children who have suffered from lost learning. The expert group, which will report to me in the spring, will make a proper and thorough assessment of some of the challenges that students have faced.
Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)
This year’s students, such as those at Petroc College in North Devon, have faced unprecedented disruption to their studies as a result of the pandemic. Those who are due to sit some of the most important exams of their lives so far have perhaps felt this disruption most acutely. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that the measures that his Department is taking will ensure that these students are treated as fairly as possible in both academic and vocational subjects?
Gavin Williamson
I assure my hon. Friend that the measures we are taking are truly exceptional—they are not measures that we would ever have expected to take in any normal year. The only reason we are taking them is to support students in her constituency to ensure that they achieve the very best grades that they possibly can and unlock their future life chances.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. Will he outline the steps taken to ensure that devolved Administrations whose students carry out English board exams have all the relevant information to enable schools to truly lay out the pathway to exam attainment? Will this messaging be going to parents and children soon to ensure less stress for these young ones, who have more uncertainty on their shoulders than children have had for many, many generations?
Gavin Williamson
The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. The measures that we are taking are very much to reduce stress and pressure on students. Many pupils in Northern Ireland sit papers from English exam boards, and the measures that we are taking will obviously be replicated in Northern Ireland for them. Only yesterday, I spoke to Peter Weir, the Education Minister for Northern Ireland. At every stage, we are considering implications that may arise for Northern Irish students as a result of these changes. We are doing everything we can to accommodate any concerns that Peter Weir may have on behalf of pupils in Northern Ireland, and we hope that we can balance that off.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con) [V]
I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, which will end the uncertainty that I am sure is experienced right across the country. Will he join me in thanking teachers and students across Harrow, who have been desperately trying to catch up with the learning that they have missed, and congratulating them on their hard work? Will he use the opportunity—now—of a revision to the process to ensure that exams are not just a test of knowledge, but far more a test of how that knowledge is applied, in assessing how students have performed across their time in school?
Gavin Williamson
We will always look at different options to improve our examination system and how we work with exam boards, and I am more than happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that in greater detail. In terms of catch-up, I pay tribute to the teachers and support staff not just in Harrow, but right across the country, who have done so much. They have been assisted by the £1 billion covid catch-up fund to give extra resources, so that extra teaching can take place at weekends and in the evenings, and children have the opportunity to catch up on work that they have missed.
Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)
Research from the Education Policy Institute, among others, on the performance of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities suggests that they can be particularly vulnerable to being underestimated in assessments. Given that some of those pupils might also, for health reasons and owing to shielding, have had more disruption to their education, how can we be confident that any new system introduced for next year will take their needs into account?
Gavin Williamson
The hon. Lady raises a really important point on which there is a lot of shared concern on both sides of the House. This was one reason that we particularly weighted the covid catch-up fund to deliver extra money for those schools supporting children with special educational needs. We recognise there are some acute and difficult challenges, and certainly I know that the Minister for School Standards would be happy to sit down with the hon. Lady, along with the children’s Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford), to discuss any extra support or intervention she thinks would be of use and benefit.
Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)
May I congratulate my right hon. Friend on achieving a compromise that enables students in Aylesbury to sit exams that they have long worked towards and actually want to take, while ensuring that they have the best possible chance of receiving a fair result? Can he assure me that this strategy will be able to withstand any future shocks that might arise due to covid-19, so that teachers and pupils in Buckinghamshire can plan the next two terms with certainty?
Gavin Williamson
This is why we have taken the decision to make the announcement at this stage. I think the four nations in the United Kingdom believe this is the most comprehensive and detailed plan for how we are going to proceed with assessment, examinations and the awarding of grades. I hope this gives every school leader and every teacher, but most importantly children, a clear sense of what they are going to be assessed against, so that they can achieve the very best grade that they are capable of getting.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
The Secretary of State rightly says that he wants to boost fairness and support students, but he will be aware that just last week a million students were not able to be in school. In one school in my constituency of Warwick and Leamington, only 63% were present, which is a massive disparity. On 21 October, he said he would deliver 500,000 laptops, but only 200,000 have so far been delivered. Does he accept that there is a massive gap in delivering the fairness he promises? Should priority be given to teachers to be vaccinated to ensure they can stay in school?
Gavin Williamson
I very much share the hon. Gentleman’s view on the important role that teachers, and also support staff, have been playing in the delivery of education. Obviously, right through this pandemic, there has been a national priority of putting education at the centre of the Government’s response, which is why schools have remained open, even during a national lockdown. There will be specific clinical needs that have to be met as part of a vaccination programme, but there has always been a priority put on education, and for teachers to be able to get into school and teach and for support staff to support them. We will obviously be looking at this in the next wave and the announcement on vaccinations.
David Johnston (Wantage) (Con)
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the position regarding exams today, as someone who was keen to see them go ahead. More importantly, all the young people I have spoken to want to see them go ahead as well, so that they are in control of their own futures. Does he agree that, given the learning loss, particularly for disadvantaged young people, it will still be important for schools to have an effective system for young people to learn during the holidays between now and summer to give these exams their best shot?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend raises an important point and identifies a great opportunity for many schools to take advantage of. I know so many schools have been putting on extra lessons after the school day has concluded, and so many schools have been looking at how they can use the holidays to deliver extra education and catch-up for those critical year 11 and year 13 pupils. That is a great idea and certainly something we very much encourage.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab) [V]
I welcome this announcement, but let us talk about regional disparities, because I share the concerns of my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western). More than 12% of children in Greater Manchester were impacted by covid-19, meaning that they could not attend school. That compares with 5% nationally. Information technology poverty affects up to 18% of the student population, and the learning conditions at home affect many more. How will this announcement help mitigate the impact on those pupils? How do we make it fair for them?
Gavin Williamson
As I touched on in an earlier answer, obviously we expect schools to deliver a full curriculum, but some schools will have been impacted in such a way that they cannot deliver every aspect of it. However, giving advance notice of the topic areas means that over the coming months those schools and students can focus on those areas that need to be covered for exams, in the run-up to them.
Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con) [V]
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. I know that he has considered very carefully how to make things fair, and students and staff will welcome the certainty. Students and teachers in Sleaford and North Hykeham are working really hard to catch up with any lost learning, but it is clear that some students, through no fault of their own, will have missed more days of school than others. Can my right hon. Friend tell me how the £1 billion catch-up fund will be targeted towards those students who need it the most?
Gavin Williamson
There is not only the general pot of the catch-up fund, but the specific national tutoring programme, targeting children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. We have always believed that schools, with their intimate knowledge of their pupils and understanding of their learning needs, are best able to target how that money is spent, so that pupils are best able to catch up.
Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)
I have heard from teachers, school leaders and young people across Luton North, all saying that we need alternatives to standard exams next year. Students from Luton sixth forms and the Luton youth council wrote to me with a comprehensive list of options last month, and I urge the Secretary of State to hear their concerns. The headteacher of the fantastic Lealands High School summed it up perfectly when he wrote to me sharing concerns not just for children’s future, but for their mental health:
“It has become apparent that the disparity in experience of Year 11 students across the country is vast and those who are suffering the most have not control over this... There are many ways to assess what young people know, understand and can do.”
Will the Secretary of State listen to teachers, parents and students and avoid any unnecessary unfairness of exams, or does he just think he knows better?
Gavin Williamson
We have spent a great deal of time working with stakeholders and listening to children, teachers and professional academics on how best we do this. That is why we have pulled together the proposal that we have, putting the interests of children very much at the heart of everything we do.
Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)
I congratulate my right hon. Friend and his entire departmental team on today’s statement, which gives certainty and clarity to teachers, pupils and parents for exams in the summer. We know that schools, including those in Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke, have been hit hard financially this year due to covid-19. That will only be added to by the need to advertise for, train and hire additional exam invigilators, which is a challenge at the best of times, so will my right hon. Friend back my call for an army of volunteers, made up of former and retired teachers—please add my name to the list—to help the national effort and deliver exams next summer?
Gavin Williamson
I would be delighted to add my hon. Friend’s name to the list of that army of volunteers who will go out there and help in schools. However, we do not just need invigilators; we also need markers—people who have experience as teachers, who are maybe retired—to come forward and assist us in this significant effort to ensure that papers are marked punctually. This is a great opportunity for people to give something back to the next generation and to schools in their community by either volunteering as an invigilator or coming forward as a marker.
Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)
We have had yet another statement from the Secretary of State that did not mention children in care or children with special educational needs and disability. That is not surprising, since just last week the Court of Appeal found that he acted unlawfully in scrapping critical safeguards for those very children. Will he apologise and outline what support he is providing to them so that they are as exam-ready as every other child?
Gavin Williamson
We have a very proud history, actually; we put the needs of the most vulnerable at the heart of our response, whether it was the covid catch-up funding—making sure that extra funding goes to those children who most need it—or the fact that this country took a global lead in making sure that schools and colleges remained open for children with special needs and those who are most vulnerable. We led the world in that, and we are very proud that we took that lead.
Lia Nici (Great Grimsby) (Con) [V]
Does my right hon. Friend agree that keeping schools open is a national priority? That is vital for our young people, especially those in my constituency of Great Grimsby, to ensure that the disruption to their education is kept to a minimum as much as possible. However, we cannot deny that, despite best efforts, many young people have had their teaching and learning disrupted more than others. Can he assure me that the measures will allow those students to catch up on their curriculum and make sure they achieve the best they can in their exams?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend is absolutely spot on when she highlights the importance of keeping schools open and ensuring that as many pupils attend as possible, because school is the best place for children. As the chief medical officers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all highlighted, children are always better off in school. We are so pleased to see schools open and so many children back. She is right to highlight the need for children to be able to catch up, but also to be able to focus their attention and efforts on the key areas that will make a real difference to their grades in exams. That is why we have taken these unprecedented and significant measures to ensure that children in her constituency are able to get the best grade and achieve their absolute maximum potential.
Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)
In Manchester, some year 11 pupils are now in their fifth period of isolation. Most have lost at least 10% of class time because of isolation and many of those pupils do not have decent digital access to enable home learning. The deputy head at my local high school told me this morning:
“The system he is putting in place will serve to widen the disadvantage gap. He repeats that exams are the fairest means of assessment and all the studies point to that; however those studies were not undertaken in a global pandemic.”
May I plead with the Secretary of State to think again about what more he can do to help those pupils who have been disproportionately affected by isolation? That does not need to include keeping all examinations, because, on exams, making the playing field slightly smaller for everybody is not creating a level playing field for those disadvantaged pupils.
Gavin Williamson
The measures we have introduced are very much designed to support the pupils the hon. Gentleman talks about. I know from personal experience—my own daughter has had to isolate and is facing her GCSE exams in this academic year—the impact it has on all children. That is why we have put these measures forward to assist all children. That is what we have done, and we believe they will make a significant difference to all children in his constituency and mine.
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con) [V]
I appreciate that there are no easy solutions here. I have been discussing these difficult issues with the principals of my local sixth form colleges—New College and Greenhead College. My area in West Yorkshire has had some of the highest covid rates in the country, with hundreds of students off with covid or self-isolating at any one time. How will the Secretary of State make it fair for students in my patch who have been disproportionately impacted by covid, and level up their life chances?
Gavin Williamson
This is what all the measures we are introducing are aimed at doing: making sure that children who have missed out on the opportunity to learn are able to focus their efforts, as they come to the crucial exam period, on the things that will matter most to them as they try to achieve the very best grade. This is on top of the action we have taken with the covid catch-up fund, which has already been initiated and is available to all students in my hon. Friend’s constituency.
Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)
Last week, I met headteachers from across Gateshead who talked about this very issue of unfairness. Today’s statement covers the issue across the whole cohort, but, as many other colleagues have said, what measures will the Secretary of State take to ensure that those who have been through isolation—there are many of those in the north-east and in my constituency—and do not have access to technology are really able to make up that difference and are able to be tested fairly in that system?
Gavin Williamson
Again, not wishing to repeat myself, we recognise that there are children in that situation. That is why we think it is really important that teachers and pupils alike have a clear sense of where the testing will be applied so that, over the final months as they head to exams in summer 2021, they are able to focus that effort and those resources on ensuring that they cover all those key critical areas.
Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con)
I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. The excellent teaching staff across Carshalton and Wallington are doing their best to prepare for the 2021 exams, but they have been telling me that when students have to self-isolate, there is obviously disruption. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that he will put education at the top of the priority list for vaccinations as they begin to roll out, so that we can return to some form of normal teaching before next year’s exams?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend makes an important point about vaccination roll-out. We have also been doing testing pilots around the country to see how we can be in the best possible position so that, if a child does have covid, it does not mean that a large group of children will have to self-isolate. As we complete those pilots, we will look at how we can roll that out, especially into the areas that have been most affected. He makes an important point on vaccination, and we are certainly looking at how we can prioritise that, since teachers and support staff play such an important role in our national endeavour.
Rebecca Long Bailey (Salford and Eccles) (Lab) [V]
The Secretary of State’s statement sadly does little to address the disadvantage that pupils, particularly from northern schools, have faced compared with those in other areas less affected by the virus. Alarmingly, a survey of National Education Union members found that nearly 80% felt that they would not be able, in the time available and with repeated pupil absences, to teach the whole syllabus. At the very least, will he accept that to give pupils a real chance, he must release those topics that will be on exam papers now and not wait until the end of January?
Gavin Williamson
It is very nice to see the hon. Lady again. The reason for this focus and the advance notice for schools is so that, where there has been missed time, they are able to be in a position to focus on the areas that matter. I appreciate that she would want everything yesterday, as against in January, but the work will take a little bit of time for exam boards to pull together. It will be done swiftly—by the end of January—to give schools as much space as possible to focus their attention on those areas.
Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)
The stress and anxiety that has been faced by so many pupils, staff and parents due to covid restrictions cannot be denied, so I very much welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement today. It is the right thing to do. Can he give me an assurance that his Department will also do everything possible to ensure that this message goes out loud and clear to anyone who might seek to stigmatise the class of 2021 as having had some sort of easy pass, rather than these measures’ being rightly about fairness in the face of exceptional circumstances?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. The children who are facing exams this year have done so much, in quite extraordinary circumstances. The grades they will receive will be a real testament to their hard work, their dedication and their commitment to education, either in the 11 years in the run-up to their GCSEs or in the 13 years in the run-up to their A-levels and other vocational qualifications. I hope that employers in the future will recognise the amazing work that has gone into every single grade and every single achievement of all our children.
Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)
Around 80% of Ealing schools have had covid cases, leaving gaps in learning and holes in budgets. Some have demolished walls to accommodate distancing, and now they have huge staff absence bills—all at London prices. Can the Secretary of State compensate all those in full and prioritise vaccinating not just teaching staff, but the admin lot, who have worked non-stop throughout all this? The Chancellor seems to have given them all an effective pay cut last week.
Gavin Williamson
We have already set out details to support schools during this covid pandemic, not just in the run-up to summer, but during the current term.
David Simmonds (Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner) (Con)
It is always easy to criticise, but does my right hon. Friend agree that while, sadly, it appears that the dog ate Labour’s homework on this one, his statement provides headteachers in my constituency and others with certainty? Does he also share my admiration for the work being done by local authority virtual schools so that children who are in the care system are able to access the wide range of support provided by the Government to ensure that they continue to close the gap with their peers who are not in care?
Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend highlights a really important area. The virtual school heads programme for local authorities and schools, has been a real success. We have seen a real impact for those children—some of the most vulnerable children in society, with some of the best attendance for them—by getting that tailored support. It is a scheme that I would deeply love to see rolled out more extensively, because the evidence points to the real impact and difference it makes to young people’s lives.
Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)
The Secretary of State referred to remote provision in his statement, and yet last half-term school laptop allocations were cut by 80%. That decision affects the most disadvantaged pupils the greatest, so will he reconsider the decision and commit to delivering the laptop provision that schools were originally promised?
Gavin Williamson
We continue to deliver ever more laptops every single week. More than 0.5 million laptops will be going out, and we continue to do everything we can do to support schools with laptop provision.
Sir Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con)
Will my right hon. Friend congratulate St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Christchurch on being given an accolade by The Sunday Times for being one of the best primary schools in the country? Will he tell us what criteria will be available to enable the public to judge primary schools next year, if there are no tests at key stage 1 and very few at key stage 2, bearing in mind that the key stage 1 tests are the test against which future progress is gauged?
Gavin Williamson
I very much join my hon. Friend in congratulating St Joseph’s school in Christchurch on such an accolade. I am sure that he, the teachers, parents and, most importantly, pupils feel incredibly proud at receiving it.
We recognise that we have had to make some changes that we would not normally want to do, in order to facilitate the smooth functioning of schools. We will continue to publish data on schools, including attendance, so that parents are in the best possible position to make the best choice for their children in school.
Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)
Some regions of our country, including my constituency, have been especially hard hit by the pandemic. Slough schools have faced several outbreaks and huge disruption as a result. There is also the huge issue of the digital divide experienced by many of our more disadvantaged and less well-off communities. So, in addition to the Secretary of State’s announcement today on exam changes, surely he should consider regionally targeted measures to support those areas that have lost out the most.
Gavin Williamson
We believe that this is a comprehensive package. We will ask the expert group to look at some of the challenges that students will face in order to be able to progress to their next stages. We will look very closely at the evidence that is provided on lost learning.
Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con) [V]
I welcome the decision to retain exams, not as the best but as the least worse form of assessment. Having held a virtual roundtable with heads recently, I know that they will welcome this long-awaited clarity and the flexibility that will be given to schools that have been in areas of high covid infection, which has obviously impacted on classroom time.
May I ask the Secretary of State about A-levels and university applications? Unfortunately, other nations in the UK rushed ahead to scrap exams next year. Therefore, pupils from England applying to Scottish universities—as my son did—or to Welsh or Northern Irish ones, will be treated differently from pupils in those other nations, or from such pupils coming to English universities. How do we ensure that all will be treated equitably in this now divergent system?
Gavin Williamson
We been working very closely with UCAS and Universities UK on this issue. Universities have been used to different systems. The Scottish system, for example, is different from the English system in terms of its grading, its curriculum and its qualification at the end. There has been divergence between Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England over the past few years. We are confident that, by giving clarity at this stage, including on the way that we will be grading and the generosity with which we will be grading, universities will best be able to adapt. We saw a record number of students going to university last year, and we will not be surprised to see a record number going to university next year as well.
Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
I still do not get how these proposals mitigate the effects of extended absence of teaching and learning. It is not just about the differential in lost schooling, which still is not resolved, but the differential impact that missing school has on some children—those unable to access learning, unable to cope, unable to engage and unable to thrive. The loss of six months and counting has massively widened the gap. Simply making the grades more generous for everyone equally does not deal with the widening and widened gap. Is it not the case that the Secretary of State’s dogmatic fixation with exams has blinkered him to solutions that would more effectively deal with the growing and widening gap and the impact of school absence?
Gavin Williamson
All the measures that we have undertaken have been aimed at supporting those children who have been most affected, but we have to understand that every child in this country has been affected by this pandemic, which is why we also need a national approach to support all children. We have created a system that supports those children who have suffered the most and makes sure that they are in the best position to focus their studies and their time on the areas that will deliver them the best results in terms of grading in August.
Sir David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con) [V]
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement of a package of measures to ensure fairness in next summer’s exams despite the many challenges. Can he assure me that, if the disruption caused by the pandemic continues into next year, the situation will be monitored and assessed and, if necessary, further measures will be introduced?
Gavin Williamson
We are absolutely certain that we can deliver a full exam series. Quite simply that is because, over the past number of weeks, we have delivered a full exam series for GCSEs and A-levels in which tens of thousands of students have taken part and they have gone safely and have been successful, so we are absolutely confident about being able to deliver that exam series in the summer of next year. My right hon. Friend highlights the issue of lost learning and differential learning, which is why we have set up the expert group to be able to advise us should we need to take any other interventions to ensure that students are in the best possible position to be able to progress to college, to university, into an apprenticeship or into the world of work.
Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab) [V]
As you know, Mr Speaker, east Hull has been one of the hardest hit areas by the pandemic, and our schools have faced massive disruption. I thank my school leaders, teachers and support staff for performing what has been a near miracle in keeping schools going, but the support from the Government has been derisory up to now. What regionally targeted measures will the Secretary of State be implementing to make sure that areas such as mine are not left behind?
Gavin Williamson
At every stage, we want to support all those schools that have been impacted by the pandemic, whether they are in east Hull or east London, whether they are in the east of England, the south-west, the north-east or the north-west. We will continue to deliver that support not only to schools, but, most importantly, to children.
Sara Britcliffe (Hyndburn) (Con)
I have been on many calls with my local schools—Mr Speaker, as you represent a Lancashire seat, your schools will face the same difficulties—where our infection rate has meant that local pupils have had to isolate more than once and their education has been severely disrupted. Will my right hon. Friend reassure me that if the disruption caused by the pandemic continues into next year, it will be monitored and assessed and, if needs be, further measures could be introduced?
Gavin Williamson
That is why we established the expert group to look at some of the challenges, including the ongoing challenges, as it is not always possible to predict the course that the pandemic will take. There is a great deal of optimism and excitement about the future with the roll-out of a vaccine, but we need to continue to monitor the challenges we face as a result of the pandemic. If extra measures need to be added, we would certainly not be blinkered or ignore such other measures that were needed.
Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)
I asked headteachers in my constituency for suggested questions to the Secretary of State and had to rule out at least one on the basis that it would have been unparliamentary. I stress again on behalf of all headteachers that the disparities in the disruption to schools are significant in areas like mine, where we have had higher than average infections and restrictions for much longer than other places. Communities with higher proportions of black, Asian and minority ethnic pupils have been particularly affected. How will the Secretary of State ensure that his proposals reflect those serious differences?
Gavin Williamson
We put together the package of proposals to deal with and support schools in the hon. Lady’s constituency of Halifax and many other areas across the country. We recognise that exceptional measures have to be put in place to support them, and that is why we have taken the steps that we have.
Mr Speaker
In order to allow the safe exit of hon. Members participating in this item of business and the safe arrival of those participating in the next, I suspend the House for three minutes.
Lifetime Skills Guarantee
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 4 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
The lifetime skills guarantee announced by the Prime Minister in September promises to help people across the country get the skills they need at every stage of their life as we build back better from the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of the lifetime skills guarantee, the Prime Minister announced the expansion of skills bootcamps, which are currently available in the west midlands, Greater Manchester, and the Liverpool city region. These flexible courses last approximately 12-16 weeks, and give participants the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer.
I am now pleased to announce that Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, the heart of the south west, and the Leeds city region have today opened course registrations ahead of beginning delivery in January. These bootcamps will expand to cover not only digital skills like software development, digital marketing, and data analytics but also technical skills training such as welding, engineering, and construction.
This is only the start for this innovative approach to adult training. I can confirm that we will invest £43 million through the national skills fund to extend skills bootcamps further across the country in 2021 increasing the national coverage of this new offer and trailblazing new skills to support our labour market and develop this model further.
We will continue to build on our wider plans for adult skills and I will update the House on our progress in due course. In the meantime, we will continue to engage closely with stakeholders as we progress and develop detailed plans for the national skills fund.
[HCWS616]
Covid-19 Contingency Framework and Workforce Fund
Gavin Williamson Excerpts(3 years, 4 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
The Prime Minister has announced the exit from national restrictions on 2 December and set out our return to a regional tiered approach. The strengthened tiering approach takes into account advice from Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and should prevent the need to introduce stricter national measures and allow for education and childcare settings to remain open across all tiers.
On 13 November, SAGE published papers relating to the latest evidence of incidence and transmission of coronavirus—covid-19—in schools. The science is clear that children and young people are typically at very low risk from coronavirus—covid-19. The disease is much less severe for children, even if they do catch coronavirus—covid-19.
The SAGE papers provide clear evidence regarding the risks from pupils not being in school. The documents are clear that school closures put educational outcomes at risk, especially for disadvantaged students. Transmission to and from children and young people can occur in household, community and educational settings. SAGE also noted that that there are significant educational, developmental and mental health harms from schools being closed, particularly for younger children, and vulnerable children where learning at home is likely to reinforce inequalities—with high confidence. This impact can affect both current levels of education and children’s future ability to learn.
Therefore, this issue requires balancing of risk and harms, including the health risks to children and staff from covid-19; impacts on community transmission; and the direct risks to children’s mental health, wellbeing, development and attainment from missing education. The chief medical officer has reinforced recently that the balance of risks is firmly in favour of keeping schools open. For the vast majority of children, the benefits of attending school far outweigh the low risk from coronavirus—covid-19— and schools can take action to reduce risks further through the system of controls set out in our guidance.
Covid-19 contingency framework for education and childcare settings
The education and childcare settings tiers and the use of rotas in schools was removed from the contain framework and has been replaced by a stronger contingency plan which continues to prioritise vulnerable children and young people, children of critical workers, students in exam cohorts and children in childcare or primary schools.
This framework is not directly linked to policy on local tiers of restriction. This framework is designed to set out how restrictions should be implemented in education and childcare settings as a containment measure for the rare circumstances in which they are required to address community transmission in any area.
This guidance for local authorities, childcare and education settings—excluding higher education—was published on 27 November and covers contingency plans for: early years and primary schools; secondary schools; further education colleges, alternative provision and special schools.
As part of their contingency planning, settings should consider how they would operate in the event that these restrictions become necessary in their local area, including how they would ensure that every child, pupil or student receives the quantity and quality of education and care to which they are normally entitled.
Any restrictions on education should only be as a last resort and should only be instituted on the recommendation of central Government. The Government will do everything possible to avoid triggering those contingency measures at any stage.
An educational or childcare setting should not move to implement restrictive measures of the kind set out in the contingency framework without the explicit agreement of the DfE. DfE will work with other Government Departments, the chief medical officer, the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), Public Health England (PHE) and relevant local authorities to ensure the decision is informed by the available evidence and viewed in conjunction with the wider local interventions in place and under consideration.
Covid-19 workforce fund
Keeping education settings open remains a national priority. We recognise that schools and colleges have faced significant challenges during the pandemic as they have sought to maintain high-quality education for their pupils and students. To support schools and colleges with these ongoing challenges, we have announced a new covid-19 workforce fund targeted at those with the highest staff absences that are also facing significant financial pressures. This will help schools and colleges to meet the cost of absences experienced during the period from the beginning of November until the end of this term, where they meet specific criteria relating to their absence rates and finances:
Mainstream schools and colleges must be experiencing a short-term teacher absence rate at or above 20%, and or a lower long-term—15 days or more—teacher absence rate at or above 10%—costs can only be claimed for the costs incurred above this rate.
Special schools and alternative provision schools must be experiencing a short-term teacher absence rate at or above 15%, and or a lower long-term—15 days or more— teacher absence rate at or above 10%, to be eligible—costs can only be claimed for the costs incurred above this rate.
Claims for support staff absences will be on an exceptional only basis, where necessary in keeping schools and colleges open. In special schools and alternative provision, there will be greater flexibility for claims for these staff.
Before claiming support, schools will first need to use any existing financial reserves, as we would typically expect when facing unforeseen costs. They will be eligible for this additional funding once they have used these reserves down to a level at 4% of their annual income. For colleges, eligibility will be based on their cash position set out in the November financial return.
This fund comes on top of our funding for schools facing exceptional costs during the summer months, the £1 billion covid-19 catch up fund to help all children make up for lost education, as well as the core funding that all schools and colleges continue to receive, and the core school funding that is seeing the biggest increase in a decade. The Department for Education will publish detailed guidance, including conditions for eligibility, shortly.
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