Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of days of in-person education lost by school pupils in England and Wales as a result of isolating after coming into to contact with a fellow pupil who has tested positive for COVID-19.

The department’s goal is to support pupils to attend face to face education, and to reverse the long-term impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on their education.

The department collects information from schools through the daily education setting survey. Schools record and submit data on the following categories:

• pupils with a suspected case of COVID-19
• pupils with a confirmed case of COVID-19
• pupils self-isolating due to potential contact with a case of COVID-19 from inside the school
• pupils self-isolating due to potential contact with a case of COVID-19 from outside the school
• pupils absent as a result of school closures due to COVID-related reasons

Full school attendance data is published weekly and includes information on the number of pupils absent due to potential contact with COVID-19 in schools. The latest week’s data can be accessed through the following link, along with each previous week: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak#dataDownloads-1.

Education is a devolved power and the Department does not collect data on Welsh schools. Please contact the Welsh Government (https://gov.wales).