Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has issued new guidance to schools on (a) coding and (b) recording a child's absence from school subsequent to a positive test for covid-19 since 1 December 2021.

‘Addendum: recording absence relating to coronavirus (COVID-19) during the 2021 to 2022 academic year’ was last updated on 6 January 2022 to reflect the changes on when a PCR test is needed and how this is recorded. The guidance is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-attendance/addendum-recording-attendance-in-relation-to-coronavirus-covid-19-during-the-2021-to-2022-academic-year.

We have advised schools throughout the COVID-19 outbreak to record pupils as Code I ‘illness’ where they have tested positive for COVID-19 because they have an infectious illness. This is in line with how schools would usually record absence because of infectious illness.