Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing compensation to schools that have been required to cancel planned foreign trips as a result of the covid-19 pandemic and have no insurance cover; and what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on that compensation.

Schools who have had to or are in the process of cancelling overseas or domestic trips should check with their travel agents or credit card companies regarding securing refunds in the first instance.

If unable to recoup their full costs from the above sources, those academies and schools signed up to the Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) for schools (an alternative to commercial insurance) should contact the RPA scheme administrators, whilst those academies/schools not covered by this scheme should contact their individual insurance companies.

The Department is continuing to discuss the issue of school trip cancellation and cost recovery with key government partners and representative bodies of the travel and insurance sectors.

Furthermore, we continue to advise schools to review any/all future trip and travel plans that they may have in light of current government advice on travel and social distancing.

Insurance for schools is a matter for devolved administrations.