Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department holds on the prevalence of the Delta variant of covid-19 within schools; and what steps he is taking to stop further transmission of covid-19 to pupils aged under 16.

Data on the Delta variant is held by the Department of Health and Social Care, where Public Health England (PHE) leads on surveillance and outbreak management.

PHE publishes weekly technical briefings on COVID-19 variants of concern and variants under investigation in England, which are available here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/997418/Variants_of_Concern_VOC_Technical_Briefing_17.pdf.

This sets out (pages 34-37) data on the number of clusters or outbreaks associated with a range of settings, including schools, colleges and nurseries.

PHE also publishes the total number of cases of each variant in the UK as part of information on variants of COVID-19, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/new-sars-cov-2-variant. This includes total confirmed Delta variant cases and prevalence split by region, as part of PHE weekly technical briefings.

The Delta variant is now the dominant strain in the UK. Therefore, as well as variant surveillance, both PHE and the Office for National Statistics’ routine surveillance on case rates, outbreaks, and prevalence are tracking Delta.

The Department’s priority is for schools to deliver face-to-face, high quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.

We have worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and PHE to revise guidance which schools should follow to minimise the risk of transmission of COVID-19. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.

We will continue to keep these measures under review, in partnership with health experts and informed by the latest scientific evidence and advice.