Covid-19: Schools

Lord Baker of Dorking Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, education is a devolved matter and it is therefore up to each jurisdiction. There are also certain differences in term dates and, in Scotland for instance, different examinations are taken. It is therefore appropriate, looking at the disease in each of the four nations, for those jurisdictions to make detailed decisions based on the information on the ground. However, at both ministerial level, including the Secretary of State, and official level, there are regular meetings between the four nations on education.

[Lord Baker of Dorking (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, which supports university technical colleges. I am concerned about disadvantaged students, of which there are many. Some 300,000 students a year fail to get above level 4 in maths and English. They have lost 10 weeks of education and will be out of school for nearly five months of the year. To expect them to take a GCSE next summer would be very unfair. The Government have two alternatives: either reduce the content in the GCSE exams next year or suspend them for a year, which they have done this year and is the preferable solution.

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, we are acutely aware of the gap in education, particularly for disadvantaged students but, throughout this period, vulnerable children have been eligible to attend school and that group of course overlaps significantly with disadvantaged children. On the examinations next summer, Ofqual is currently consulting over the impact on those examinations.