Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to introduce guidance to schools and colleges on the use of transparent face coverings when teaching pupils and students who rely on lip-reading.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In schools and colleges where year 7 and above are educated, face coverings should be worn by adults (staff and visitors) and pupils when moving around indoors, outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas where social distancing is difficult to maintain.
Face coverings can make it more difficult to communicate with children with additional needs or children who may rely on lip reading or facial expressions for understanding. We expect staff to be sensitive to these needs when teaching and interacting with children.
As the Department’s guidance outlines, some individuals are exempt from wearing face coverings. This includes people who cannot put on, wear, or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability, or if you are speaking to or aiding someone who relies on lip reading, clear sound or facial expressions to communicate. The same legal exemptions that apply to the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport also apply in schools and colleges.
Based on current evidence and the measures that schools are already putting in place, such as the system of controls and consistent bubbles, face coverings will not generally be necessary in the classroom.
Children in primary schools do not need to wear a face covering and older children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities may be exempt from wearing them, depending on their need.
The Department’s guidance on face coverings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-in-education/face-coverings-in-education.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many laptops have been requested by schools in Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough constituency during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown to date; and how many laptops have been allocated to those schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. The Government is providing this significant injection of devices on top of an estimated 2.9 million laptops and tablets already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
On 12 January, the Department announced that it will be providing a further 300,000 devices over the course of this term. The Get Help with Technology scheme will email all schools with information on the number of additional devices allocated to them, and when they will be able to order.
The number of devices available for each school, academy trust or local authority is based on children eligible for free school meals and takes into account existing devices available in schools. Schools, academy trusts and local authorities are responsible for distributing the laptops and tablets and are best placed to know which disadvantaged children and young people need access to a device.
Figures on the number of devices delivered is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data. These figures are broken down by local authority and academy trust. Information on delivery by constituency is not available.
Laptops and tablets provided under the Get Help with Technology scheme meet defined technical specifications to enable remote education and allow for use in schools and colleges. Information on devices specifications is published at: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk/devices/device-specification.
Details of the contracts for this programme are available at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder, in line with normal Government commercial practice. Information on the proportion of each contract that has been fulfilled is not available.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the minimum specifications are for laptops provided to schools and local authorities during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. The Government is providing this significant injection of devices on top of an estimated 2.9 million laptops and tablets already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
On 12 January, the Department announced that it will be providing a further 300,000 devices over the course of this term. The Get Help with Technology scheme will email all schools with information on the number of additional devices allocated to them, and when they will be able to order.
The number of devices available for each school, academy trust or local authority is based on children eligible for free school meals and takes into account existing devices available in schools. Schools, academy trusts and local authorities are responsible for distributing the laptops and tablets and are best placed to know which disadvantaged children and young people need access to a device.
Figures on the number of devices delivered is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data. These figures are broken down by local authority and academy trust. Information on delivery by constituency is not available.
Laptops and tablets provided under the Get Help with Technology scheme meet defined technical specifications to enable remote education and allow for use in schools and colleges. Information on devices specifications is published at: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk/devices/device-specification.
Details of the contracts for this programme are available at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder, in line with normal Government commercial practice. Information on the proportion of each contract that has been fulfilled is not available.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what contracts his Department has in place for the provision laptops or other digital equipment to schools and local authorities during the covid-19 outbreak; and what proportion of those contracts have been fulfilled.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. The Government is providing this significant injection of devices on top of an estimated 2.9 million laptops and tablets already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
On 12 January, the Department announced that it will be providing a further 300,000 devices over the course of this term. The Get Help with Technology scheme will email all schools with information on the number of additional devices allocated to them, and when they will be able to order.
The number of devices available for each school, academy trust or local authority is based on children eligible for free school meals and takes into account existing devices available in schools. Schools, academy trusts and local authorities are responsible for distributing the laptops and tablets and are best placed to know which disadvantaged children and young people need access to a device.
Figures on the number of devices delivered is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data. These figures are broken down by local authority and academy trust. Information on delivery by constituency is not available.
Laptops and tablets provided under the Get Help with Technology scheme meet defined technical specifications to enable remote education and allow for use in schools and colleges. Information on devices specifications is published at: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk/devices/device-specification.
Details of the contracts for this programme are available at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder, in line with normal Government commercial practice. Information on the proportion of each contract that has been fulfilled is not available.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of childcare arrangements for key workers during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced on 4 January 2021 that early years settings remain open for all children during the national lockdown. Details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home. For school-aged children, schools, childminders and wraparound care remain open for vulnerable children and children of key workers.
Early years provision should continue to allow all children to attend full time or their usual timetabled hours. This includes early years registered nurseries and childminders, maintained nursery schools, as well as nursery classes in schools and other pre-reception provision on school sites. Only vulnerable children and children of critical workers should attend on-site reception classes. Early years settings remain low risk environments for children and staff. Current evidence suggests that pre-school children (0 to 5 years) are less susceptible to infection and are unlikely to be playing a driving role in transmission.
We do stay in regular contact with the early years sector, and we are closely monitoring both parental take-up of places and the capacity and responses of providers. An estimated 49,000 early years settings were open on 7 January 2021. This represents 72% of all settings, with 13% closed and 15% unknown. The percentage closed may include some providers which are open, due to differences in the ways local authorities collect data and report non-responses.
The Department for Education does not hold a central register of all wraparound provision and so does not routinely collect data on the number of providers in operation. However, ensuring sufficiency of childcare provision for critical worker parents and carers remains a government priority. This is why we have ensured that wraparound childcare providers, and other providers of out-of-school activities, can continue to remain open during the current national lockdown for the children of critical workers to support their parents or carers to work, seek work, undertake training or education, or to attend a medical appointment or address a medical need, as well as for all vulnerable children. We have also published updated guidance on ‘Protective measures for holiday and after-school clubs, and other out-of-school settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak’ to support providers to continue to operate as safely as possible during the national lockdown. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
In addition, we are encouraging all schools to continue offering their before and after school provision to ensure parents and carers who are critical workers can continue to work, as well as to ensure vulnerable children continue to have access to this valuable provision. Schools can also continue to open up or hire out their premises for use by external wraparound providers, such as after-school or holiday clubs, to support them to do so.
Our Regional Education and Children Team, comprising education and social care staff from both the Department for Education and Ofsted, are also continuing to work closely with local authorities, and will act as a valuable source of intelligence on the sufficiency of wraparound and early years childcare places for the children of critical workers, and for vulnerable children and young people during the current national lockdown.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has of the adequacy of support for parents delivering home learning.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Given the critical importance of ensuring that all children and young people continue to learn during the national lockdown, we have updated the remote education guidance for schools and colleges to clarify and strengthen expectations while on-site attendance is restricted, drawing on our evolving understanding of best practice in remote education. Further information on this is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950510/School_national_restrictions_guidance.pdf.
Schools are expected to offer pupils online lessons and a set number of hours of remote education, having increased from the Department’s previous minimum expectations. This includes time for independent study and either recorded or live direct teaching. Schools are also now expected to have a system in place for checking daily whether pupils are engaging actively with their work and education. The Department has also asked schools and colleges to publish information about their remote education provision on their websites. This should be done by 18 January 2021 for colleges and 25 January 2021 for schools.
The Department recognises that different expectations are appropriate for younger and older age groups when undergoing remote education. We expect schools to consider the remote education expectations in relation to pupils’ age, stage of development or special educational needs. The number of hours of remote education we expect schools to deliver also varies according to pupil stage.
The Department also recognises that younger children in Key Stage One or Reception often require high levels of parental involvement to support their engagement with remote education, which makes digital provision a particular challenge for this age group. We therefore do not expect that solely digital means will be used to teach these pupils remotely.
The Department is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. We have already provided over 54,000 4G wireless routers, with free data for the academic year, and have also partnered with some of the UK’s leading mobile network operators to provide free data to disadvantaged families, further supporting remote education where it is needed.
The Department has made £4.84 million available for Oak National Academy, both for the summer term of the 2019/20 academic year, and for the 2020/21 academic year, to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects, for Reception up to Year Eleven. Specialist content for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities is also available.
The BBC has also adapted their education support for the spring term 2021 and will be making educational content available on the television. Bitesize Daily primary and secondary will also air every day on BBC Red Button as well as episodes being available on demand on BBC iPlayer. This TV offer is in addition to the BBC’s online offer, which parents, children, and teachers can access when and where they need it.
A range of resources are available to help support children’s wellbeing at present. Public Health England has provided advice and guidance for parents and professionals on supporting children and young people's mental health and wellbeing, including suggested key actions to take, such as supporting safe ways to connect with friends. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing. Resources are also available through the Every Mind Matters campaign and Rise Above, which aim to build resilience and support good mental health in young people aged ten to sixteen specifically. These can be accessed here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/ and https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/schools/topics/rise-above/overview.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he has made on the provision of laptops to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people.
This includes over 560,000 laptops and tablets that have already been delivered to schools, trusts and local authorities in 2020.
The Department will have dispatched over 750,000 devices in total by the end of this week.
Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts or local authorities who can lend these to children and young people who need them most during the current COVID-19 restrictions.
The Department has partnered with some of the UK’s leading mobile network operators to provide free data to disadvantaged families, which will support access to education resources, including Oak National Academy, and other websites.
Families will benefit from this additional data until July 2021. Schools are able to request free mobile data uplifts via the Get Help with Technology service. Further information on the Get Help with Technology service is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-with-technology-for-remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19.
The Department has already provided over 54,000 4G wireless routers, with free data for the academic year, and continues to provide 4G wireless routers where children need to access remote education.
Support is also available for schools to get set up on Google or Microsoft platforms. These platforms bring together the school community, pool resources and give pupils the opportunity to work with their peers remotely. As of 5 January 2021, 6900 schools have applied to the Department’s digital platforms programme that forms part of the Get Help With Technology programme.
The EdTech Demonstrator Programme is in place to promote effective use of devices, including ways they can be used to promote greater accessibility to the curriculum.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish his Department's contingency plans relating to Summer 2021 GCSE and A Level exams.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government’s position is clear: exams will take place in summer 2021. Schools across the country, including in areas of high prevalence of COVID-19, are doing a brilliant job staying open and providing high quality education to pupils.
We recognise that there will be challenges for students being assessed in summer 2021. We have announced a wide range of contingency measures to ensure that as many pupils as possible can take an exam paper in their chosen subjects, and all students will have the opportunity to be awarded a qualification.
Exams will be sufficiently spaced to account for periods of self-isolation. If a student misses all their assessments in a subject, they will have the opportunity to sit a contingency paper held shortly after the main exams. Students who miss part of their exams because of the COVID-19 outbreak will be able to get a grade through the special consideration process, provided they have sat one paper or non-exam assessment and met requirements.
In the extreme case where a student has a legitimate reason to miss all their papers, then a validated teacher informed assessment can be used, only once all chances to sit an exam have passed. The Government will set out further detail on this process, and on adaptations to exams, in the New Year.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to modify Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 tests in 2021 to account for the adverse impact of covid-19 on pupils’ learning.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The purpose of the national curriculum tests is to determine pupil attainment in relation to the national curriculum. This enables parents to understand the performance of their child with respect to national expectations and supports schools in planning the appropriate next steps for teaching. As a result, it would not be appropriate to modify the tests to account for the adverse impact of COVID-19 as this would provide only a partial picture of pupil attainment.
Instead, to recognise the challenges that primary schools are facing, the key stage 1 tests and the English grammar, punctuation and spelling tests at key stage 1 and 2 have been removed for one year. There will also be no requirement to undertake and report on science teacher assessment at both key stages. In addition, the introduction of the multiplication tables check will be postponed by a further year, whilst still enabling schools to use it on an optional basis.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish the further education White Paper.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, confirmed to the House on 1 October 2020 in his oral statement, we will publish our further education white paper later this year.