Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1352930

registered interest
date	06/09/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of germicidal ultraviolet air disinfection on tackling the spread of covid-19 in schools and other educational settings.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	43678
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2021 answer text <p>A trial of air cleaning devices in 30 schools in Bradford has recently been launched. It includes upper room ultraviolet and high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) devices to help understand their effectiveness. The Department for Education will monitor the outcomes from the trial.</p><p>Additionally, the Department has announced that CO2 monitors will be provided this term to state-funded nurseries, schools and colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding.</p><p>The new monitors will enable staff to identify areas where ventilation needs to be improved and provide reassurance that existing ventilation measures are working, helping balance the need for good ventilation with keeping classrooms warm.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 14/09/2021 13:56:45 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1347622

registered interest
date	16/07/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to review the self-isolation requirements in educational settings before the new school year.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool North and Cleveleys
tabling member printed	Paul Maynard
uin	34478
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/07/2021 answer text <p>In line with Step 4 of the roadmap, nurseries, schools, and colleges are no longer routinely required to undertake contact tracing for pupils and staff. Instead, those who test positive will be subject to the normal test and trace process, which will identify close contacts.</p><p>From 16 August 2021, children under the age of 18 years old, and staff who are fully vaccinated, will no longer be required to self-isolate if they are contacted by NHS Test and Trace as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case. Instead, they will be advised to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. The Department encourages all individuals to take a PCR test if advised to do so.</p><p>18 year-olds will be treated in the same way as children up until four months after their 18th birthday to allow them the opportunity to get fully vaccinated, at which point they will be subject to the same rules as adults. Therefore, if they choose not to get vaccinated, they will need to self-isolate if identified as a close contact.</p><p>Nurseries, schools, and colleges will continue to have a role in working with health protection teams in the case of a local outbreak. If there is a COVID-19 outbreak or if central Government offers the area an enhanced response package, a director of public health might advise a nursery, school or college to temporarily reintroduce some control measures.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 26/07/2021 15:23:39 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard

1344162

registered interest
date	06/07/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what covid-19 testing and isolating system will be in operation in schools and colleges from September 2021.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	28252
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2021 answer text <p>Following the summer holidays, asymptomatic testing will resume in the autumn term for staff and pupils in secondary schools and colleges. Schools and colleges should offer pupils two lateral flow device tests at an on-site asymptomatic test site three to five days apart. Schools and colleges may start this testing up to three days before the start of term and can stagger the return of pupils during the first week of term to accommodate this. Following the first two on-site tests, pupils should continue to test twice weekly at home until the end of September, when this will be reviewed.</p><p>Staff across all schools and colleges should also test regularly at home until the end of September, at which point this will be reviewed in line with public health advice.</p><p>From Step 4 of the roadmap, schools and colleges will no longer be expected to undertake contact tracing. Close contacts will be identified via NHS Test and Trace. As with positive cases in any other setting, NHS Test and Trace will work with the positive case or, depending on the age of the contact, their family, to identify close contacts. From 16 August, unless they test positive, children under the age of 18 years old and those who are fully vaccinated will no longer be required to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact. Instead, they will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace, informed that they have been in close contact with a positive case and advised to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Self-isolation will continue for those who have tested positive for COVID-19.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 14/07/2021 09:49:26 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1344163

registered interest
date	06/07/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will ensure that schools, colleges and universities work with local public health teams to ensure that the safest protocols are in place as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are further eased.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	28253
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2021 answer text <p>When moving to Step 4, the Department’s aim is to balance the risks associated with COVID-19 whilst moving to a ‘steady state’ that minimises both the burden of implementing the system of controls on staff and parents and the impact that those measures have on young people’s education.</p><p>Local health protection teams continue to play a role in supporting nurseries and schools as restrictions are eased. Schools and nurseries will already have contingency plans setting out what they will do if they have a COVID-19 outbreak, or if they were advised to use any of the measures described in the contingency framework, which were also known as outbreak management plans.</p><p>As part of their outbreak management responsibilities, local health protection teams, working with local authorities and directors of public health, may advise individual schools and nurseries, or a cluster of closely linked schools and nurseries, to temporarily re-introduce some control measures. Given the detrimental impact that restrictions on education can have on children and young people, any measures in schools and nurseries should only ever be considered as a last resort, kept to the minimum number of settings or groups possible and for the shortest amount of time possible.</p><p>Where health protection teams, local authorities or directors of public health judge that wider containment action is needed and wish to limit attendance across an area, they should work with their regional partnership team to escalate a proposal to the central Local Action Committee command structure.</p><p>The Education Contingency Framework outlines the principles of managing local outbreaks of COVID-19, including responding to variants of concern, in nurseries and schools. The framework can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings/contingency-framework-education-and-childcare-settings" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings/contingency-framework-education-and-childcare-settings</a>.</p><p>All nurseries and schools should continue to have outbreak management plans outlining how they would operate if any measures described in the contingency framework were recommended for their setting or area.</p><p>The Department has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to revise guidance for nurseries, schools and universities from Step 4. The Department will continue to keep these measures under review in partnership with health experts and informed by the latest scientific evidence and advice.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 14/07/2021 10:18:31 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1344165

registered interest
date	06/07/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to introduce a covid-19 test and release system to support school and college students and staff who are self-isolating.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	28255
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2021 answer text <p>From Monday 16 August, children under 18 years old, and those who are double vaccinated, will no longer be required to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact.</p><p>From Step 4, schools and nurseries will not routinely be required to undertake contact tracing for children and young people. The Department expects schools to continue to fulfil their contact tracing responsibilities up to Step 4. From that point onwards, close contacts will be identified directly by NHS Test and Trace. Schools may be contacted in exceptional cases to help with identifying close contacts, as currently happens in managing other infectious diseases. Pupils and students who test positive will be subject to the normal Test and Trace process, which will identify close contacts.</p><p>Self-isolation will continue for those who have tested positive for COVID-19.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 14/07/2021 10:05:23 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1343866

registered interest
date	05/07/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of providing daily lateral flow tests to schools and other education settings to prevent pupils who remain covid-19 negative following a positive covid-19 contact from being required to isolate for 10 days.
tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
uin	27266
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2021 answer text <p>Between March and June this year, over 200 secondary schools and colleges participated in the independently monitored, voluntary trial of Daily Contact Testing, which was approved by Public Health England’s independent Research and Ethics Governance Group.</p><p>The aim of the trial was to keep pupils in face-to-face education, whilst reducing the risk of community transmission of COVID-19. The trial consisted of two randomised groups, a control group and an intervention group.</p><ul><li>The control group quarantined contacts of positive cases</li><li>The intervention group enabled daily contact testing of contacts, instead of 10 days isolation</li></ul><p>The trial concluded on 25 June 2021, and its findings are expected shortly. The Department has not been informed of the results of the independent trial in order to protect the integrity of the study. The trial’s findings need to be evaluated fully before any decisions can be made by the Government on how Daily Contact Testing may be used in the future.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 08/07/2021 12:12:36 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

1328324

registered interest
date	26/05/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the transmission of covid-19 in (a) schools and (b) other education settings through increased ventilation.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	7891
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2021 answer text <p>The Department is working closely with Public Health England (PHE) and the Department of Health and Social Care, as well as stakeholders across the sector, to ensure that our policy is based on the latest scientific and medical advice, and to continue to develop comprehensive guidance based on the PHE supported system of controls.</p><p>The Department continues to review the ventilation requirements in the system of controls including considering whether monitoring Carbon Dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) levels would be appropriate. We are working with the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and NHS Test and Trace on a pilot project to measure CO<sub>2</sub> levels in typical classrooms to enable us to provide more nuanced guidance to the sector. We will continue to consider updating our guidance as results from this pilot project emerge.</p><p>Current evidence recommends that the way to control COVID-19 is the same, even with the current new variants. The PHE supported system of controls which have been in use throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, which includes ventilation, continue to be the right measures to take.</p><p>PHE keeps all these controls under review, based on the latest evidence. Schools and colleges therefore need to continue to implement these controls. Further information can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/education-and-childcare" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/education-and-childcare</a>. Additional guidance from the Health and Safety Executive on air conditioning and ventilation during the COVID-19 outbreak can be found here: <a href="https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/equipment-and-machinery/air-conditioning-and-ventilation/index.htm" target="_blank">https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/equipment-and-machinery/air-conditioning-and-ventilation/index.htm</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 08/06/2021 16:52:03 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1313158

registered interest
date	11/05/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessments his Department made to inform decisions on reopening (a) secondary schools and (b) university campuses as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
tabling member constituency	Tatton
tabling member printed	Esther McVey
uin	226
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2021 answer text <p>At every stage since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, decisions have been informed by the scientific and medical evidence, including the risk of COVID-19 infection, transmission and illness, and the known risks to children and young people not attending school.</p><p>On 22 February the Department published its COVID-19 evidence summary which is available here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/963639/DfE_Evidence_summary_COVID-19_-_children__young_people_and_education_settings.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/963639/DfE_Evidence_summary_COVID-19_-_children__young_people_and_education_settings.pdf</a>.</p><p>The return of the remaining university students is not considered in isolation but as part of the Government’s overall roadmap. All areas included in the roadmap, as well as higher education, are informed by advice from scientific and medical experts, where data and evidence are considered regularly. This includes the Joint Biosecurity Centre, Public Health England, and the Chief Medical Officers.</p><p>The Department is working closely with scientists and The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) to understand and model various scenarios to inform plans that seek to enable us to re-open the country without putting unsustainable pressure on the NHS. We have also examined economic and social data to get a balanced understanding of the impacts of carefully easing restrictions. The Government has also carefully considered data on the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on ethnic minority communities, the vulnerable, the young, and low income groups.</p><p>SAGE also regularly publish papers and minutes following each SAGE meeting, including a collection of papers from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, on the re-opening of schools and the Independent Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours on return to campus for the spring terms and the risk of increased transmission from student migration. The list of papers published are available at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/scientific-evidence-supporting-the-government-response-to-coronavirus-covid-19" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/scientific-evidence-supporting-the-government-response-to-coronavirus-covid-19</a>.</p><p>A wealth of data, papers and evidence is being published at the same time as the roadmap, to ensure transparency on the information the Government has had available to it in reaching its decisions. This includes information from Public Health England on the Pfizer vaccinations effectiveness and reports with detailed findings from Sarscov2 Immunity &amp; REinfection EvaluatioN (SIREN) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections-Watch.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 19/05/2021 13:34:57 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey

1276770

registered interest
date	14/01/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how data on (a) covid-19 infection rates and (b) staff absence for covid-19 related reasons among staff in education settings is collected by his Department.
tabling member constituency	Ilford North
tabling member printed	Wes Streeting
uin	137977
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/01/2021 answer text <p>The Department receives COVID-19 infection data directly from the National COVID-19 Response Centre within the Department for Health and Social Care on a daily basis. In addition to this, the Department continually monitors a number of public sources of COVID-19 analysis, including, but not limited to, the Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey, the Office for National Statistics Schools Infection Survey, the Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission study at Imperial College London, and the weekly national Influenza and COVID-19 Surveillance Reports published by Public Health England.</p><p>The Department also maintains a strong working relationship with SAGE, SPI-M, SPI-B and the Children’s Task and Finish Group on children, schools and transmission, which assist in informing the Department’s understanding of the spread of COVID-19 within the community and within key groups of interest.</p><p>Ofsted collects and publishesinformation from early years providers on confirmed cases of COVID-19 known to them among staff and children. The latest data was published on Monday 11 January and provides the number of notifications for weeks commencing 14 and 21 December.</p><p>The Office for Students collects, on behalf of the Department, information from higher education providers on confirmed cases of COVID-19 known to them among staff and students, as well as headcounts for each. From this information we estimate infection rates in the Higher Education sector.</p><p>The Department also asks the majority of schools and colleges to complete the daily education settings online form, wherein they are asked to provide the number of teachers including head teachers, teaching assistants and other staff attending the school onsite as well as the number of those absent due to COVID-19 reasons from onsite and remote teaching/working: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-complete-the-educational-setting-status-form" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-complete-the-educational-setting-status-form</a>.</p><p>Please note, the online form is not the primary source of data on infection, incidence and COVID-19 cases overall. Rather, this data is used so we can understand capacity issues at both regional and national level.</p><p>Further data on overall infection rates, incidence rates and number of COVID-19 cases is owned elsewhere in Government such as by Public Health England, and can be found within the following links:</p><p><a href="https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/?_ga=2.91108568.335840232.1603021384-1347302696.1578321854" target="_blank">https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/?_ga=2.91108568.335840232.1603021384-1347302696.1578321854</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/16october2020" target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/16october2020</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 19/01/2021 17:13:35 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4504 label Biography information for Wes Streeting

1274936

registered interest
date	08/01/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Educational Institutions: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the criteria is for reopening schools and educational settings during the covid-19 outbreak in England.
tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
uin	134507
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/01/2021 answer text <p>Head teachers, teachers, and staff of schools and other education settings have been doing an extraordinary job to remain open, keep settings safe, and provide education for vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers.</p><p>We know that receiving face to face education is best for children’s mental health and for their educational achievement. We have resisted restrictions on attendance at schools and other education settings since the first lockdown but, in the face of the rapidly rising numbers of cases across the country and intense pressure on the NHS, we now need to use every lever at our disposal to reduce all our social contacts wherever possible. Limiting attendance during the national lockdown is about supporting the reduction of the overall number of social contacts in our communities.</p><p>During the period of national lockdown, schools, colleges and wraparound childcare and other out of school activities for pupils and students should allow only vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers to attend. All other pupils and students should not attend and should learn remotely until February half term. Early years provision should continue to remain open and should continue to allow all children to attend full time or their usual timetable hours.</p><p>Only university students doing medical, clinical and healthcare related subjects, including nursing, social care, dentistry and veterinary studies should return to face to face teaching as planned. Most students should not return to university and should study from their current residence, where possible, until at least mid-February.</p><p>On an exceptional basis, universities should consider supporting the return of students who may need to return earlier for other reasons, for example, students who do not have access to appropriate accommodation, facilities, studying space, or that need to return for health reasons.</p><p>We will continue to review the restrictions on schools, colleges and universities and will ensure that children and young people return to face to face education as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 13/01/2021 17:49:30 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq