Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of introducing covid-19 testing of all secondary school aged children in Yorkshire and Humber on the transmission of covid-19.

The asymptomatic testing programme has been successfully stood-up for secondary schools and colleges and will continue to support testing in schools and colleges. Secondary schools and colleges should continue to roll out the rapid mass testing, alongside serial testing, for staff, children of critical workers and vulnerable children on site, with the full rollout of the testing programme across secondary schools and colleges when they reopen. Secondary schools and colleges should also carry out initial testing of vulnerable children and children of critical workers who are on school or college sites (two tests, three to five days apart). The Department will roll out the testing programme in primary schools when home testing is available for pupils in these settings. Weekly testing for staff will roll out later this month, although currently there is no confirmed date.

This programme will help to break the virus's chains of transmission by identifying asymptomatic cases, therefore minimising disruption to schools and colleges.