Pupils: Quarantine

(asked on 20th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many students at (1) secondary schools, (2) sixth forms, and (3) University Technical Colleges, did not attend in the week ending 16 October because they were isolating or quarantined; and how many of those students had access to a computer and an internet connection to facilitate remote learning.


Answered by
Baroness Berridge Portrait
Baroness Berridge
This question was answered on 5th November 2020

I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to question HL9006, available here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-10-12/hl9006.

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 settings. This data is updated weekly and the most recent data can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-covid-19-surveillance-reports.

The Department collects data on the number of schools that have indicated that they have sent children home due to COVID-19 containment measures. We are 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 99.7% of state funded schools were open as of 15 October. Of the small proportion (0.3%) of schools that were closed on 15 October, almost all were due to COVID-19 related reasons. Approximately 89% of all children on roll in all state funded schools were in attendance on 15 October. This data is updated weekly and can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

The Department does not hold data on the number of students self-isolating who do not have access to a computer and an internet connection.

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