Education Settings: Wider Opening

Lord Robathan Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, as I have outlined, secondary school children travel greater distances. Local authorities and schools are still under a duty to provide home-to-school transport within the social distancing rules. If there is capacity on those services, we have said that it should be made available to other students and that it can be charged for. We are aware that an essential part of getting students back to school will be ensuring that they can get there safely.

[Lord Robathan (Con) [V]]

The risk from this virus to children of primary school age is, frankly, negligible. For secondary school pupils, it is still pretty tiny. There is a higher risk to teachers, who will be older and may have underlying health conditions, but it is still pretty low for anybody under 50. Why then do pupils need social distancing at all? Teaching is a profession to be admired, so does my noble friend share my huge disappointment—that is an understatement —that some teachers, and only some, supported by their unions, are putting minor risk to themselves above the very real threat to their pupils’ futures?

[Baroness Berridge]

My Lords, there is indeed a high degree of confidence that the severity of the disease is lower in children than in adults. In the primary setting, we have been clear that we do not expect the younger cohorts to socially distance; the measures to enable children to come back state that they should be in groups of a maximum of 15, that they should not mix across groups and that there should be good hygiene in schools. As soon as the scientific evidence allows, we will be relieved to be able to welcome children back to their education.