Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the rate of covid-19 infections among Further Education and Higher Education student population.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
There are a number of different sources of data which are relevant to understanding the estimated rate of COVID-19 in student populations – including both detected case rates and estimated positivity.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes daily updates of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in their official COVID-19 dashboard. This covers all individuals, not only those attending further or higher education. By the most relevant available age breakdown:
UKHSA also publishes confirmed cases of COVID-19 for various educational-aged cohorts, including those of sixth form age (years 12 and 13), and university age, and for people reporting attending university settings in their weekly national flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports. In the week ending 30 January, there were 12,115 cases in people reporting attending university, an increase from 9,845 the week ending 23 January.
The Office for National Statistics Coronavirus Infection Survey estimates that in the week ending 29 January 2022, 4.13% of people in school year 12 (age 16/17) to age 24 would test positive for COVID-19. This is an increase from 3.81% in the week ending 22 January, but a decrease from 5.74% in the week ending 15 January.
There is high vaccination uptake amongst higher education students. Survey data published in December 2021 show that 78% of students had received both vaccine doses, 12% had received one.
All higher education institutions have an updated outbreak management plan, agreed with their local director of public health, and work closely with local health teams in the event of an outbreak at an institution. Further education providers have risk assessments in place and continue to implement in their settings the system of controls as outlined in the further education operational guidance (updated 19 January 2022) and the contingency framework for education and childcare settings (updated 21 January 2022). These documents can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision/further-education-covid-19-operational-guidance and here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of days missed of school by (a) students and (b) teachers in the first term of the 2021-22 academic year.
Answered by Robin Walker
The requested data is not yet available.
Data relating to the number of school days missed by pupils due to absence in the autumn term of the 2021-22 academic year is currently being collected in the termly school census. It will be published in May 2022 and will be available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-term.
The daily education settings survey asks schools and colleges to report data such as on-site attendance and absence due to COVID-19.
The most recent published data for staff and pupil absences at national level is for 20 January 2022 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Data relating to teacher sickness absence is collected from state-funded schools in England from the November school workforce census. Each census collects data for absence from the previous academic year. The November 2021 census, covering the 2020-21 academic year, will be published in summer 2022 and will be available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
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: 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 are able to continue to access vaccine programmes throughout the current phase of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Robin Walker
Vaccinations continue to be the best way we can protect ourselves and help keep children and young people in face-to-face education. Healthy 12 to 15 year olds can receive their COVID-19 vaccinations in their school or out of school, such as through vaccination centres. The two offers run in parallel. School-age immunisation service (SAIS) providers have resumed services since schools returned in the new year. Second doses have also been offered through schools since 10 January 2022.
The department has updated the ‘how to’ guide for schools with information and resources, including a template letter that can be used to communicate with parents. Whilst awaiting confirmation of an on-site visit from a SAIS team, the department encourages schools to continue signposting parents to book out-of-school vaccinations for their child, if aged 12 or over, through the NHS booking system. This can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/?utm_source=13%20January%202022%20C19&utm_medium=Daily%20Email%20C19&utm_campaign=DfE%20C19.
All eligible staff and students aged 12 and over are encouraged to take up the offer of the vaccine, including boosters where eligible.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of the figures from Scotland on the reduction of transmission of covid-19 connected with mask wearing in schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
Each of the devolved administrations has a Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and a Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA). They work with Sir Chris Whitty, the CMO to the UK government, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government CSA, to provide co-ordinated advice to government departments in all 4 nations.
Expert scientific advisory groups are convened at a UK level and provide advice to the CMOs of the 4 nations, to health authorities in the devolved administrations, and to the devolved governments directly.
The UK government has worked closely with the devolved administrations throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and continues to do so. However, education and health are devolved, and each nation of the UK has its own guidance to support education providers. It will be for the Scottish government to respond regarding its figures and face covering policies and the reduction of transmission of COVID-19 connected with mask wearing in schools in Scotland.
The department will always prioritise the health and welfare of staff, pupils and students.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) provides independent, evidence-based advice and guidance to other government departments, including the Department for Education, in the context of the response to COVID-19. The advice provided is based on critical appraisal of the most up-to-date evidence available and has changed depending on the epidemiological picture and emerging evidence. It is based on this advice that the department’s recommendations are made.
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced on 19 January that Plan B is to end. This decision comes in response to national infection data showing the prevalence of COVID-19 to be on a downward trajectory. Whilst there are some groups where cases are likely to continue rising, 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.
Therefore, it is right that we remove the most stringent restrictions around wearing face coverings in schools, but the virus is still with us and continuing with proportionate protective measures remains vital to protect education.
As a result, face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff and visitors in classrooms. From 27 January, face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff and visitors in communal areas. This advice remains subject to change as the situation develops. A link to our guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.
On 5 January 2022, the department published its evidence summary on the use of face coverings in education providers which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1044767/Evidence_summary_-_face_coverings.pdf.
The UKHSA critically assesses and reviews the current global evidence on a range of risk mitigations, including face coverings, in publicly available evidence reviews. The most recent review was published in November 2021 and can be found at: https://ukhsa.koha-ptfs.co.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-retrieve-file.pl?id=35a32498205a656d9a849736b4037314.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an estimate of the number of (a) autistic children and young people and (b) other pupils in Lewisham Deptford that have yet to return to full-time education as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Will Quince
We do not collect data on the attendance of children and young people broken down by specific conditions. Statistics on attendance during the COVID-19 outbreak can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
The department collects data on the total number of children that are absent each day from school due to any reason relating to COVID-19. As we collect the total number of students absent from school, we are unable to determine if the same pupil is absent on consecutive days, so are unable to provide a total for the number of pupils that are yet to return to full-time education because of COVID-19.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have published and updated guidance for special schools, special post-16 providers and alternative provision to provide additional information and support for delivering education in these settings. This is clear that regular attendance at school, both special and mainstream, is vital for children’s education, wellbeing and long-term development and school attendance has been mandatory since the end of the last national lockdown. Our guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings.
To support this, we recommend that leaders in education work collaboratively with families to reassure them and to help their child engage with their everyday activities. Discussions should have a collaborative approach, focusing on the welfare of the child or young person and responding to the concerns of the parent, carer, or young person.
Any families with concerns about their child’s health should speak with their child’s GP or health care team for advice and guidance.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure comprehensive covid-19 mitigation practices in schools in Newcastle.
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, balanced with managing transmission risk.
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, has announced that from 20 January, face coverings are no longer recommended in classrooms and teaching spaces for staff, and pupils and students in year 7 and above. They were introduced in classrooms at the start of the spring term as a temporary measure. From 27 January, face coverings are no longer recommended in communal areas for staff, and pupils and students in year 7 and above.
However, a range of a range of protective measures remain in place. Local directors of public health may temporarily advise the use of face coverings in communal areas or classrooms 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 and colleges. Staff and secondary school pupils 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 rapid 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, as long as they test negative on day 5 and day 6.
Every child aged 12 and over is eligible to receive the vaccine. Healthy 12 to 15-year-olds can have a second dose. All 16 to 17-year-olds will be offered the booster vaccination.
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 two doses of the vaccine.
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 received a carbon dioxide monitor, with over 350,000 delivered. The government is now making available at least 7,000 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 and continue to comply with health and safety law implementing proportionate control measures in line with our guidance. All education and childcare providers should have contingency plans in place in cases of outbreaks within schools, as set out in the contingency framework, to help break chains of transmission. This framework is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Regarding Newcastle upon Tyne, the measures in place apply nationally as the department no longer applies different local measures. However, local directors of public health have the discretion to apply some local rules as outlined above.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she made of the impact on (a) children aged five to 11 who are clinically extremely vulnerable or who have a close relative who is immunosuppressed and (b) the staff working with those children who are either clinically extremely vulnerable or have a close relative who is immunosuppressed, of allowing children aged five to 11 in families where there is a confirmed covid-19 case to continue attending school; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department will always prioritise the health and welfare of staff, pupils and students.
At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, shielding was introduced as one of the few ways to support those who, at the time, were considered clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV).
The situation is now very different to when shielding was first introduced. We know a lot more about COVID-19 and what makes someone more or less vulnerable to the virus. The vaccine continues to be successfully rolled out, and other treatments and interventions are becoming available.
We are committed to protecting education, which is why the safety measures are based on the latest scientific advice and strike a balance between managing transmission risk with measures such as regular testing, enhanced ventilation and hygiene, and reducing disruption to face-to-face learning.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have not advised people to shield since 1 April 2021, and people previously identified as CEV were advised to follow the same guidance as the general population. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do.
All children and young people previously considered CEV were advised to return to childcare and education provision when shielding paused on 1 April. The decision to include children as part of the CEV group was based on the information that we had at the time. Now that we have more evidence, the clinical review panel has been able to recommend that all children and young people are no longer considered to be CEV and have been removed from the Shielded Patient List. However, if a child or young person has been advised to isolate or reduce their social contact by their specialist, due to the nature of their medical condition or treatment, they should continue to follow the advice of their specialist.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has advised that children aged 5 to 11 in a clinical risk group, and household contacts of individuals who are immunosuppressed, should be offered 2 10mcg doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, with an interval of 8 weeks between the first and second doses. The NHS is working through updated guidance and will set out how this is going to be operationalised in due course.
Vaccines remain an effective measure against COVID-19. We recommend all school staff take up the offer of a vaccine.
Education providers should continue to ensure good hygiene for everyone, maintain appropriate cleaning regimes, keep spaces well ventilated and follow public health advice on testing, self-isolation and managing confirmed cases of COVID-19. They should continue to conduct risk assessments for their particular circumstances and take appropriate action in line with our guidance, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.
It is important that we reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education, particularly given that the direct clinical risks to children are extremely low. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health, which is why children should continue to attend their education provision, unless they are symptomatic or test positive for COVID-19. All students and pupils aged 5 and above are strongly advised to take seven daily lateral flow device tests if they are identified by Test and Trace as a close contact of a confirmed positive case.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of covid-19 on schools in Weaver Vale constituency; and what steps his Department is taking to limit the spread of the virus.
Answered by Robin Walker
The government continues to manage the risk of serious illness from the spread of COVID-19 through the steps described below.
The department has reintroduced face coverings for all adults in schools, including primary, and for pupils and students in year 7 and above in communal areas, and now also in classrooms. This is a temporary measure and will be reviewed on 26 January. Health advice continues to be that children in primary schools should not be asked to wear face coverings.
Testing remains important in reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 within schools and colleges. We asked secondary schools to provide one on-site test for all pupils upon return.
Staff and secondary school pupils should continue to test twice weekly at home. Schools are strongly encouraged to ask parents and other visitors to take a lateral flow device (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 rapid LFD test every day for 7 days and continue to attend their school or college as normal unless they have a positive test result.
Every child aged 12 and over is eligible to receive the vaccine. Healthy 12 to 15-year-olds can have a second dose 12 weeks after their first dose. The booster programme was accelerated to offer every adult in England a booster jab by the end of 2021.
Children aged 5 to 11 who are in a clinical risk group or who are a household contact of someone (of any age) who is immunosuppressed, will be offered a primary course of vaccination.
To improve ventilation, we have provided CO2 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 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 gives directors of public health a range of flexible options for advising temporary measures in certain situations. This framework is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Schools should follow the control measures set out in the guidance, continuing to comply with health and safety law. Schools must regularly review and update their risk assessments.
The measures outlined above apply nationally. Regarding Weaver Vale, the regional team in the West Midlands has offered regular calls with Cheshire West and Chester local authority in which we provide advice and guidance on how to limit the spread of COVID-19 and support schools in managing it. These calls have more recently involved public health colleagues.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish data on the level of absence by children from schools for (a) any reason, (b) any reason of illness, including reasons related to covid-19 and (c) reasons related to covid-19 by (i) region, (ii) upper tier local authority, (iii) lower tier local authority and (iv) parliamentary constituency in each of the last 100 weeks for which figures are available.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department publishes a fortnightly COVID-19 attendance publication based on the educational settings status form. This data is intended to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on the number of pupils attending school. In this collection we do not collect the total number of students absent from school due to any reason of illness.
Data on pupil absence due to COVID-19 since the start of the 2021/22 academic year can be found on Explore Education Statistics. This data is published at local authority level. We do not publish data at parliamentary constituency level.
The most recent published data at national level is 6 January. For regional and local authority level data, the latest published data is 16 December. 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.
We also publish more detailed termly data on pupil absence as part of the school census (including absence rates where pupils are ill, including COVID-19). The latest publication can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-2020-and-spring-2021.