Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2022 to Question 114851 on Special Educational Needs: Coronavirus, what criteria his Department will use to monitor the outcomes of the (a) Early Years Professional Development Programme and (b) Nuffield Early Language Intervention for children with speech and language difficulties.
Answered by Will Quince
The early years education recovery programme focuses on improving training for early years practitioners. This is one of the key levers for driving up quality in early education environments. Whilst elements of the programme will be initially targeted, the programme will ultimately have national coverage.
Up to £30 million will be invested in phases one and two of the Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP). Combined, the phases will reach early years providers in 101 local authority areas. A further phase of the programme, backed by up to £37.5 million, will ensure national reach.
To ensure assessment of the impact of EYPDP, the department has commissioned independent evaluation of the first phase of the programme.
The department has no plans to publish a breakdown of funding by local authority or parliamentary constituency area. However, we are committed to ensuring EYPDP reaches the areas and children who need it most.
For the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), trained staff complete language assessments with their reception pupils, evaluating whether they would benefit from the 20-week programme. After completion of the programme, schools reassess the pupils’ language skills to monitor progress and help plan what provisions may be needed as the children move into year 1. The Education Endowment Foundation is delivering a long-term evaluation of the NELI programme and will publish reports on the results.
Two thirds of primary schools have signed up to deliver NELI, reaching an estimated 90,000 children. A list of schools signed up to deliver NELI in the 2020/21 academic year can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/neli-nuffield-early-language-intervention-programme. The department will shortly be publishing the list of schools signed up to deliver NELI in the 2021/22 academic year. It does not have plans to publish a breakdown of funding in local authorities or parliamentary constituencies.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 February 2022 to Question 120797 on Secondary Education: Regional Planning and Development, what estimate he has made of the amount and proportion of the Government’s (a) additional £4.7 billion by 2024-25 for the core schools budget in England and (b) new package of £1.8 billion over the SR21 period to support education recovery from the covid-19 outbreak that will be allocated directly to schools in Bradford East constituency.
Answered by Robin Walker
Schools in Bradford East are attracting £130 million in total in the 2022/23 financial year through the schools national funding formula (NFF), a 3.5% cash increase over the 2021/22 financial year. This represents an increase of 2.6% in per pupil funding. On top of this funding through the NFF, additional funding through the Schools Supplementary Grant will provide extra funding to all schools in Bradford East. The breakdown of this will be published in due course. The indicative 2022/23 financial year schools supplementary grant figure for the Bradford local authority is £13.8 million or £156 per pupil on average.
We are only able to confirm NFF funding allocations for the 2022/23 financial year as the NFF is updated annually.
We have committed an additional £1.8 billion of recovery funding in the recent Spending Review to support young people to catch up on missed learning, taking overall direct investment in education recovery to almost £5 billion.
From this additional funding, a £1 billion recovery premium will continue for a further two academic years, 2022/23 and 2023/24. Primary schools will continue to benefit from an additional circa £145 per eligible pupil, and the amount per eligible pupil in secondary schools is expected to nearly double. In broad terms, this will mean a typical secondary school could attract approximately £70,000 a year.
The recovery premium allocations for individual schools in the 2021/22 academic year, including those in East Bradford, have been published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-recovery-premium-funding-allocations. The recovery premium allocations for the 2022/23 academic year will be published in due course.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the School Aged Immunisation Service will be involved in the vaccination of five to 11 year olds against covid-19; and what additional resources he plans to provide to ensure the effectiveness of the programme.
Answered by Robin Walker
On 16 February 2022, the government accepted advice from the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to make a non-urgent offer of COVID-19 vaccinations to all children aged 5 to 11 in England. The NHS will prepare to extend the non-urgent offer of COVID-19 vaccination to children aged 5 to 11 during April so parents can, if they want, take up the offer to increase protection against potential future waves of COVID-19 as we learn to live with this virus.
The system letter, published on 18 February by the NHS, confirms that community pharmacy-led local vaccination services and centres should be the primary delivery models for this cohort. This letter can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/updated-jcvi-advice-for-vaccinating-5-to-11-year-olds/.
The NHS is also currently offering vaccinations to at-risk children and those who live with immunosuppressed people in this age group. Parents and guardians of at-risk children aged 5 to 11 should wait for the NHS to contact them, with local NHS teams already contacting those who are eligible.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is planning to reintroduce public health measures into schools to help ensure they remain open during the ongoing high levels of covid-19 infection.
Answered by Robin Walker
National infection data shows the prevalence of COVID-19 to be on a downward trajectory. Whilst there are some groups where cases are likely to continue rising, including in primary-age children, it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally. There remains significant pressure on the NHS, but hospital admissions have stabilised, and the number of patients in intensive care units remains low and is falling. This means it was right we removed the most stringent restrictions around wearing face coverings from education.
Local directors of public health may temporarily reintroduce face coverings where this is proportionate due to specific local public health concerns. A range of protective measures remains in place in all education providers:
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that schools remain open during the ongoing high level of covid-19 infection rates.
Answered by Robin Walker
National infection data shows the prevalence of COVID-19 to be on a downward trajectory. Whilst there are some groups where cases are likely to continue rising, including in primary-age children, it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally. There remains significant pressure on the NHS, but hospital admissions have stabilised, and the number of patients in intensive care units remains low and is falling. This means it was right we removed the most stringent restrictions around wearing face coverings from education.
Local directors of public health may temporarily reintroduce face coverings where this is proportionate due to specific local public health concerns. A range of protective measures remains in place in all education providers:
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on increasing covid-19 vaccination uptake among school pupils.
Answered by Robin Walker
Vaccines are the best way we can protect ourselves and keep children and young people in face-to-face education. On 22 December, the government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that a primary course of vaccination should be offered to children aged 5 to 11 years old who are in a clinical risk group, or who are a household contact of someone (of any age) who is immunosuppressed. On 24 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that the department will distribute a total of £8 million in funding to NHS England to support secondary schools with the vitally important in-school vaccination programme for young people. This comes as over 50% of 12 to 15-year-olds, over 1.5 million people, have now had at least one dose of the vaccine.
To accelerate the COVID-19 programme in schools, the NHS has bolstered the in-school offer to make it more efficient and increase the scale and pace of delivery, as well as target communications to parents, young people and the public to improve uptake and increase overall confidence in the programme.
To ensure even more young people can get the vaccine as quickly as possible, the national booking service is open for vaccination bookings for young people. This service is available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/.
To support schools, and based on feedback we gathered, we have published a new ‘how to’ guide which is available here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cT6adcSVsLer0kvcSuI4QcBYdlmdgb5x. This includes useful information and resources for schools, including a template letter that can be used to communicate with parents. The COVID-19 vaccination guidance and leaflets for parents, children and young people are being translated by Public Health England. The accessible versions include braille and British Sign Language, as well as web and print versions in 27 languages.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that pupils can learn safely in education settings.
Answered by Robin Walker
Protecting face-to-face education is our top priority. There is a package of measures and support in place to help reduce transmission and retain face-to-face teaching as much as possible.
All education and childcare staff, and students of secondary school age and above should continue to test twice a week a home, 3 to 4 days apart with lateral flow device test kits. Testing remains voluntary but is strongly encouraged. As of 19 January, over 109.5 million tests (including household bubble and support bubble tests) have been completed in all education providers, including higher education.
All eligible staff and students aged 12 and over are encouraged to take up the offer of the vaccine, including boosters, where eligible. On 22 December 2021, the government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that a primary course of vaccination should be offered to children aged 5 to 11 years old who are in a clinical risk group, or who are a household contact of someone (of any age) who is immunosuppressed. On 24 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that the government will distribute a total of £8 million in funding to NHS England to support secondary schools with the vitally important in-school vaccination programme for young people.
In addition to over 353,000 CO2 monitors already delivered to education providers, we are also making a total of up to 9,000 air cleaning units available for poorly ventilated teaching spaces in state-funded education providers, where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.
We no longer recommend that face coverings are worn in classrooms, teaching spaces or when moving around the premises outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas. Directors of public health may temporarily, and exceptionally, advise individual providers experiencing outbreaks to use face coverings in either communal areas or classrooms, as part of their responsibilities in outbreak management. The contingency framework provides more information on the principles of managing local outbreaks of COVID-19 in education and childcare providers. This framework is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent guidance has been given to protect primary school children and staff from the Omicron variant of covid-19.
Answered by Robin Walker
COVID-19 continues to be a virus that we learn to live with and the imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education remains. The government continues to manage the risk of serious illness from the spread of COVID-19.
While it has been announced that face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff and visitors in classrooms, and from 27 January, face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff and visitors in communal areas, a range of protective measures remain in place in primary schools. Additionally, local directors of public health may temporarily advise the use of face coverings in communal areas where this is proportionate due to specific local public health concerns.
Testing remains important in reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 within schools. Staff should continue to test twice weekly at home, with lateral flow device (LFD) test kits. Schools are encouraged to ask all visitors to take an LFD test before entering the school.
Young people aged 5 to 18 and fully vaccinated adults who are identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19 can take an NHS LFD test every day for 7 days and continue to attend their school or college as normal, unless they have a positive test result. People with COVID-19 in England can now end their self-isolation after 5 full days if they test negative on day 5 and day 6.
Children aged 5 to 11 years in a clinical risk group or who are a household contact of someone who is immunosuppressed are now able to get 2 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine 8 weeks apart.
We have provided carbon dioxide monitors backed by £25 million in government funding. Over 99% of eligible maintained schools, further education colleges, and the majority of early years education providers have now received a carbon dioxide monitor with over 350,000 now delivered. The government is also making available a number of funded air cleaning units for poorly ventilated teaching spaces where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.
Schools should regularly review their risk assessments as well as continuing to comply with health and safety law implementing proportionate control measures in line with our guidance, such as ensuring good hygiene for everyone and maintaining appropriate cleaning regimes. All education and childcare providers should already have their own contingency plans in place in cases of outbreaks within schools, as set out in the contingency framework here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings, to help break the chains of transmissions.
The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health. This harm disproportionately affects children and young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. Therefore, the government has made it a national priority that education and childcare providers should continue to operate as normally as possible during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary school (a) children and (b) teachers and staff have been diagnosed with covid-19 in each month in (i) 2020 and (ii) 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department does not hold the primary data source of COVID-19 cases. This is accessible from the ‘Coronavirus in the UK’ dashboard. COVID-19 case data can be found here: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/?_ga=2.91108568.335840232.1603021384-1347302696.1578321854.
The department publishes daily school attendance data on a fortnightly basis. This helps with the monitoring of the COVID-19 impact on school attendance. Absence due to suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 is available from the 23 May 2020 to 6 January 2022 and information can be found on Explore Education Statistics. The most recent national, regional and local authority data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-23-march-2020-to-6-january-2022.
National level pupil data can be found in Table 1B of the underlying data files, whilst teacher data can be found in Table 1D. For dates where any local authority is on half term, a holiday methodology is applied and the national data for both pupil and teachers can be found in Table 1A.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional steps he will take to tackle covid-19 infection spread in schools and prevent a return to pre-Christmas levels of infection in school age children.
Answered by Robin Walker
COVID-19 continues to be a virus that we learn to live with, and it remains imperative that we reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education. My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced on 19 January 2022 that the temporary introduction of Plan B is to end. From 27 January, face coverings will no longer be advised for visitors, staff and secondary pupils in classrooms and communal areas. From this date, staff and pupils should follow wider advice on face coverings outside of school, including on transport to and from school.
There are a number of measures that will remain in place.
To improve ventilation, the department has provided CO2 monitors backed by £25 million in government funding. Over 99% of eligible maintained schools, further education colleges, and the majority of nurseries have now received a carbon dioxide monitor with over 353,000 now delivered. The government is also now making available at least 8,000 funded air cleaning units for poorly ventilated teaching spaces where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.
The contingency framework, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings, gives directors of public health a range of options for advising temporary measures in certain situations.
The department’s aim is for schools to deliver face-to-face, high-quality education to all pupils in as normalised an educational environment as is possible.