Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to ensure that vulnerable children who are safer in school than at home are encouraged to attend educational settings during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown and are able to do so; and what steps he will take to identify children facing greater risks in lockdown periods and ensure they are reached by support services.

Since the lockdown announced on 4 January 2021, primary, secondary, alternative provision, special schools and further education providers will remain open to Vulnerable Children and Young People (VCYP). We have made clear that educational providers and local authorities should offer places and support to any child they deem as vulnerable, and VCYP are strongly encouraged to attend their educational setting.

The full-time attendance of VCYP, and ensuring that VCYP remain supported during the COVID-19 outbreak, continues to be a priority and we expect schools to follow up attendance concerns where absences are not related to COVID-19, including working with social workers, virtual schools heads and other services as needed.

We are clear on the important role of social workers to promote attendance and we are using our Regional Education and Care Teams to work directly with local authorities where attendance is a concern. We have launched a social worker toolkit to support social workers to encourage vulnerable children to attend school.

Where VCYP cannot attend schools or other settings (including post-16), we have asked local authorities and educational settings to ensure they have systems in place to keep in touch with them.

We have continued to keep children’s social care working and ensured there are exemptions in some restrictions to enable services to continue to be there for families of VCYP.

We are supporting local safeguarding partnerships to work together to protect children in their areas, bolstering helplines and providing support for families with children who have SEND. We have continued to make sure that children have access to social workers.

Local authorities are providing the department with regular insight on contact between children and their social workers, social worker availability and other key indicators.

The government has also provided funding to children’s voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations to ensure charities can continue to provide services that safeguard vulnerable children and protect them from harm. This includes:

• £7 million donated to fund Barnardo’s ’See, Hear, Respond‘ services supporting VCYP. Additional funding has been awarded to a coalition of charities to continue the ‘See, Hear, Respond’ programme until March 2021.
• Additional funding of £310,000 for Childline to modify and enhance the service for children and young people being put at increased risk of harm by isolation.