Schools: Coronavirus

(asked on 2nd October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many suspected covid-19 related school absences there were in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency, (b) Bexley Borough, (c) London and (d) England in September 2020.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 12th October 2020

Keeping close track of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases in schools is a priority for the Government. Public Health England (PHE) leads in holding data on infection, incidence and COVID-19 cases overall. PHE have published data on COVID-19 incidents by institution, including educational institution. This data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-covid-19-surveillance-reports (page 16).

The Department is currently collecting data from schools on a daily basis, as well as gathering information from local areas and following up with individual settings to confirm that procedures for requiring pupils to isolate are well understood and that necessary decisions are made on the basis of public health advice.

The Department collects data on the number of schools that have indicated that they have either sent children home due to COVID-19 containment measures, or have staff shortages due to COVID-19 related absences. The Department is currently looking at the quality of that data with a view to publishing it as part of the official statistics series. The series includes published data on school openings and attendance, which shows that at a national level approximately 93% of state funded schools were fully open on 1 October. Of all schools that responded to the survey, 7% said they were not fully open due to suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 on 1 October. Approximately 90% of all children on roll in all state funded schools were in attendance on 1 October. Equivalent estimates have not been made at more local levels, including Bexley, London and Bexleyheath and Crayford. More information is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

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