Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of schools that have not resumed delivery of a full extra-curricular offering compared to before the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
It is up to schools to decide what extra-curricular activities to offer to pupils. This can change and the department does not ask them to provide regular data.
However, the department included questions in both the School Snapshot Panel Survey and the Pupil and Parent Panel Surveys to understand provision and take up of extra-curricular activity, including the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The information collected does not indicate how many schools have returned to the same level of provision as before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, parents and pupils have reported that the uptake of extra-curricular activities increased in the 2021/22 academic year, compared to 2020/21, as schools looked to rebuild their offer to pupils.
The data can be found at:
We expect to publish further survey results in due course.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on future uses of the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Nick Gibb
NHS Test and Trace data is used by the Department for Education to routinely monitor and report to Ministers on the take-up of COVID-19 testing in schools and colleges, and to support operational delivery. For example, the Department has used the data to proactively identify schools that required additional support to report test results for their setting during the initial on-site testing phase of the programme.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to use the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Nick Gibb
NHS Test and Trace data is used by the Department for Education to routinely monitor and report to Ministers on the take-up of COVID-19 testing in schools and colleges, and to support operational delivery. For example, the Department has used the data to proactively identify schools that required additional support to report test results for their setting during the initial on-site testing phase of the programme.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has allocated (a) financial and (b) other resources from his Department's budget to investigate potential future uses by his Department of the NHS Test and Trace system.
Answered by Nick Gibb
NHS Test and Trace data is used by the Department for Education to routinely monitor and report to Ministers on the take-up of COVID-19 testing in schools and colleges, and to support operational delivery. For example, the Department has used the data to proactively identify schools that required additional support to report test results for their setting during the initial on-site testing phase of the programme.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times on average pupils in (a) Bolton, (b) Wigan, (c) the county of Cornwall and (d) Greater London were sent home from school due to covid-19 in (i) September, (ii) October and (iii) November 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department collects data on the number of schools that have indicated they have sent children home due to COVID-19 containment on a daily basis, as well as the total number of pupils in attendance and the number of pupils asked to isolate due to potential contact with COVID-19. This data is published from this collection at both national and local authority levels as part of the official statistics series. The publication 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 is published from 9 September 2020, but prior to 12 October 2020 information on pupils isolating was not collected. This data is collected at school level, not pupil level. Therefore, we cannot estimate the average number of times a pupil has been asked to isolate.
The Department is constantly reviewing the content of its publications. Announcements about future content will be made through the official statistics release page: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/statistics.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department is taking to support good (a) attendance and (b) behaviour as pupils return to school as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is vital for all pupils to return to school to minimise the impact of the pandemic on their education. It is important for schools to also be calm and disciplined environments, where everyone follows the rules.
We have published guidance for school leaders to support them to:
To support this work on the ground, regional teams continue to engage regularly with local authorities to understand any barriers to attendance. We are also working with stakeholders to enable schools and LAs to share best practice to improve attendance and ensure a smooth transition back to school.
More widely, we are running a ‘Back to school’ campaign which seeks to reassure parents and explain the measures that education providers are taking to reduce the risk of transmission.
We have also worked with local authorities and transport providers to make sure children/young people can get to school/college safely, providing more than £40 million of additional funding to create extra capacity.
The Department will shortly be inviting schools with exemplary behaviour to deliver the Behaviour Hubs programme and support those schools that need additional support in turning around their behaviour cultures. Over the Autumn term, National Leaders of Education will continue to work with schools most affected by COVID-19, including in improving behaviour.