Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure that (a) Pupil Referral Units and (b) alternative provision continues to be available to pupils who are (i) excluded from school, (ii) are at risk of exclusion and (iii) have medical needs and are unable to attend school during the covid-19 outbreak.

We are working closely with our alternative provision (AP) stakeholder group to monitor the impact that the COVID-19 outbreak has had on local authority referrals. AP settings and those local authorities and schools that use their services should continue to work closely together, to assess need and demand and to make sure local capacity is maintained where both places and expertise continue to be needed.

We have prioritised vulnerable children and children of critical workers throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. AP has remained open for these children and young people, which means many of these settings have continued to offer face-to-face provision for the majority of their pupils. Settings should provide robust remote education for those who are not attending, including those with medical needs and we have made laptops and tablets available for the most disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access.

Over the course of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have taken a number of steps to support Pupil Referral Units and AP to remain open and support vulnerable children and young people, in addition to the extra support we have provided to all schools. This includes the £7.1 million AP transition fund announced in June 2020 to support year 11 pupils in AP to make a successful transition to post-16 education and training. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/alternative-provision-year-11-transition-funding. This is in addition to support through the workforce fund, higher rates of funding for catch-up funding in financial year 2020-21 and most recently, increased levels of funding for mass-testing. It is crucial that AP operates as safely as possible with easy access to mass asymptomatic testing for staff and those attending for face-to-face education.