Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of his Department's decision to reopen schools on 1 June 2020 following the covid-19 outbreak on (a) BAME children and adults and (b) people with other protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010; and if he will place a copy of that assessment in the Library.

When making decisions about asking schools to welcome back more children, we have had due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and to advance equality of opportunities and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not as required by section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. We continue to keep our assessment of those matters under review.

In respect of BAME children and adults specifically, we continue to assess the emerging evidence, including Public Health England’s review into disparities in COVID-19 outcomes and the report on the impact of COVID-19 on BAME groups, and consider what this means for the education system.

There is further work to do to understand the key drivers of these disparities and the relationships between the different risk factors. In the meantime, we continue to encourage schools to be particularly sensitive to the needs and concerns of BAME pupils, parents and carers, and staff, considering if any additional measure or reasonable adjustments may need to be put in place to mitigate those concerns.