Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the additional costs incurred by parents as a result of school closures during the covid-19 outbreak.

As both my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19.

Although we have not made a calculation of any additional costs incurred by parents due to school closures during the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department is taking significant action to support families during this period.

We have asked schools to support pupils who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. We recognise that providing meals and food parcels is not a practicable option for all schools, and we therefore launched a national voucher scheme on 31 March, with costs covered by the Department.

In addition, we have committed over £100 million to support the provision of remote education, including by providing devices (including laptops, tablets and related services) and access to the internet for vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

Furthermore, the Government has made a number of changes to the welfare system to ensure people are receiving the support they need. These include increasing the standard rate of Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit for this year by around £1,000 per year. People who need money urgently continue to be able to access up to a month’s Universal Credit advance upfront by applying online or by telephone. In addition, Statutory Sick Pay now applies from day one, rather than the fourth day of illness, and we are increasing the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants so that it covers the cheapest third of local rents – which is on average £600 more in people’s pockets.

Taken together, these measures represent an injection of over £6.5 billion into the welfare system and, along with the other job and business support programmes announced by the Chancellor, represent one of the most comprehensive packages of support introduced by an advanced economy in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

These are rapidly developing circumstances; we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.