Education: Return in January

Janet Daby Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[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.