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Written Question
Further Education and Schools: Coronavirus
Friday 4th February 2022

Asked by: Miriam Cates (Conservative - Penistone and Stocksbridge)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an (a) estimate the number of covid-19 lateral flow tests that have been distributed to schools and further education colleges since 1 January 2021 and (b) assessment of the effectiveness of (i) lateral flow testing and (ii) the vaccination of 12 to 15 year olds in minimising covid-19-related pupil absences from full-time education.

Answered by Robin Walker

The testing programme is well-established in education providers. As of 19 January 2022, over 109.5 million tests (including household bubble and support bubble tests) have been completed in all education providers including higher education (HE). This includes:

  • Over 31.1 million tests completed for primary schools and nurseries

  • Over 72.4 million tests completed for schools and colleges

  • Over 4.1 million tests completed for HE institutions

Lateral flow device (LFD) tests have been widely and successfully used to detect asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. A recent report has shown that the accuracy of LFD tests was more than 80% effective at detecting any level of COVID-19 infection and likely to be more than 90% effective at detecting the most infectious people at the point of testing.

On 26 November 2021, every single nursery, school, college, and HE institution was invited to order supplies of lateral flow tests. They will have received their allocation of the 31 million tests, in advance of their pupils, students and staff returning, through a dedicated supply channel.

Vaccinating children should help to reduce the need for children to have time off school and should reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19 within schools. Modelling by the Department of Health and Social Care published in September 2021 suggested that a single dose of the vaccine could reduce absences due to confirmed cases of COVID-19 by 33% among healthy 12 to 15-year-olds. This is assuming a 60% uptake. All eligible staff and students aged 12 and over are encouraged to take up the offer of the vaccine, including boosters, where eligible.

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