Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) support and (b) advice his Department is providing to clinically extremely vulnerable students who are due to sit vocational examinations in January 2021.

The Department for Health and Social Care and Public Health England have published guidance on shielding and protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19. Alongside this, the Department has also published guidance for schools and further education providers on the phased return to face-to-face education: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools, and: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-fe-providers-return-in-january-2021/further-education-fe-providers-return-in-january-2021.

If a student is unable to attend their assessment because they are shielding, they will not be penalised. We are working with Ofqual to ensure that students unable to take their January assessments are treated fairly in comparison with their peers.