Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure regular covid-19 testing takes place in secondary schools for (a) students and (b) staff.

Keeping schools and colleges open is one of the Government’s highest priorities. Testing capacity is the highest it has ever been. The UK’s daily COVID-19 testing capacity passed the 500,000 mark on Saturday 31 October and testing capacity continues to expand to help meet demand over the winter period. All essential workers continue to have access to priority testing via the online booking portal. This includes all education and childcare workers, including support and teaching staff, social workers, and specialist education professionals. In addition to this, the Department is supplying COVID-19 test kits directly to schools and further education colleges for both staff and students who develop the symptoms of COVID-19 and face significant barriers to accessing a test through other routes.

The Government is also committed to introducing mass asymptomatic testing using new technologies to minimise the risk of infection spread in our communities. Pilots have begun in a small number of secondary schools and colleges using new Lateral Flow Devices that deliver fast, on-site results. The pilots cover secondary school students and staff. These pilots will help us better understand how this new technology can be operationalised for further roll-out in schools and nurseries to ensure we protect those at high risk, find COVID-19 cases, and help enable us to return to as normal a way of life as possible.