Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) make and (b) model are of the air filtration devices which his Department has (a) supplied and (b) plans to supply directly to schools and other educational establishments for the protection of children and young people against covid-19.

The air cleaning units being provided by the department are the same make and model as those available via the online marketplace. Further information, including the make and model of the air cleaning units, is available here: https://s107t01-webapp-v2-01.azurewebsites.net/list/air-cleaning. In future, we may review this list, and as more products which meet our specification become available, these will be added.

All air cleaning units provided by the department have met an approved technical specification. The department’s technical specification used to assess the units was developed through a rigorous consultation with industry wide experts in both air cleaning and ventilation, from academia, professional bodies and industry, including chartered engineers, scientists, and several government departments. Through this consultation, we have developed a specification specific to education, focusing on key drivers including classroom size, acoustics, clean air delivery and filtration, as well as requiring strong evidence to verify manufacturer's claims.

All procurement activity was undertaken with full compliance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015. The procurement of the air cleaning devices was undertaken using the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Framework (RM6157), which can be accessed by central government departments, including the Department for Education, and the wider public sector. We have selected products which meet our specification criteria, to equip education and childcare providers with high quality air cleaning units of a suitable specification.