Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the outbreak of covid-19, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that school pupils can sit exams safely in summer 2021.

The COVID-19 contain framework guidance sets out how national and local partners will work with the public at a local level to prevent, contain and manage outbreaks.

The Department has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Public Health England (PHE) to develop specific guidance for school settings. Where schools implement the system of controls outlined in our September reopening guidance, in line with their own workplace risk assessment, PHE and DHSC confirm that they create an inherently safer environment for children and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced.

The Department is working with Ofqual and engaging widely with the education sector to identify any risks to examinations at a national, local, and individual student level, and to consider measures needed to address any potential disruption. This could be a student unable to sit examinations due to illness or self isolation, or schools affected by a local outbreak during the examination season resulting in examination centres not being able to open. More details will be published later in the autumn.