Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Randall and Michelle Donelan

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Bim Afolami (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

What recent steps he has taken to help ensure that universities can deliver safe (a) teaching and (b) student services during the covid-19 outbreak.

[The Minister for Universities (Michelle Donelan)]

We announced a package of measures in May to support the sector. We have also issued guidance on reopening, reflecting advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, and we have worked with universities to ensure that they have outbreak plans that are shared with their local Public Health England teams. We will shortly provide additional guidance on winter planning and end-of-term preparations.

[Tom Randall]

A constituent of mine who is also an associate lecturer at Nottingham Trent University wrote to me to say that a safe start to the new academic year would be a boost in a year that has been awful in so many ways. Why was it important to reopen universities? Does my hon. Friend agree with my constituent’s suggestion that specific testing and monitoring systems for universities might help to provide a safety net for very close-knit groups?

[Michelle Donelan]

This Government have prioritised education. We simply cannot ask students to put their lives, or their academic journeys, on hold. To do so would mean removing opportunities, damaging social mobility and punishing young people. The education and welfare of students is at the forefront of all our decisions. That is why we have worked and continue to work with the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that students get access to tests if symptomatic so that the trace work can kick in immediately.