Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria he will use to determine whether covid-19 secure measures should be reintroduced in the future in the education system.

On 5 July, it was announced that when the Government moves to Step 4 of the roadmap the majority of COVID-19 restrictions will be relaxed. This includes the measures that the Department recommends for early years, schools, colleges, and universities.

The Department for Education has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England (PHE) to revise guidance for schools and colleges. Our aim is to balance the risks associated with COVID-19 whilst moving to a ‘steady state’ that minimises both the burden of implementing a system of controls on staff and parents, and the impact those measures have on young people’s educational experience. The Department will continue to keep these measures under review, in partnership with health experts and informed by the latest scientific evidence and advice.

Local authorities, Directors of Public Health and PHE Health Protection Teams play an important role in providing support and advice to early years, schools, colleges, and universities and are responsible for managing localised outbreaks.

The contingency framework describes the types of measures that may need to be reintroduced, outlining the types of measures that early years, schools, colleges, and universities should be prepared for, who can recommend them, when measures should be lifted and how decisions are made. If there is an outbreak, or if they are in an enhanced response area, the local director of public health might advise an early years setting, school, college, or university to temporarily reintroduce some control measures. If that happens, the individual setting's outbreak management plan should help staff understand the actions they need to take. In all cases, any benefits in managing transmission should be weighed against any educational drawbacks. More information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings/contingency-framework-education-and-childcare-settings.

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