Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to implement a summer school programme to help the education of pupils who have not received any teaching during covid-19 lockdown.

As plans continue for a full return to education from September, we have announced a £1 billion COVID “catch-up” package to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time.

This includes £650 million that will be shared across state schools over the 2020-21 academic year. This one-off grant to support pupils recognises that all young people have lost time in education as a result of the outbreak, regardless of their income or background.

The grant has been designed so that school leaders have flexibility and autonomy when choosing how best to support their pupils.??The guide published by the Education Endowment Foundation to help schools make effective choices includes advice on summer schools and a link to a Teach First toolkit for schools that choose to offer this.

Separately, a National Tutoring Programme, worth £350 million, will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people. This will help accelerate their academic progress and tackle the attainment gap between them and their peers.