Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of year 7 to 11 secondary school pupils have had their parents abstain from giving permission to their being tested for covid-19 in school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are the individual data controllers responsible for processing any personal data, including obtaining and maintaining records of consent, for testing carried out on their sites. As part of testing, schools share data on tests carried out with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), at which point DHSC becomes the data controller. Therefore, the Department for Education does not hold the requested information.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of year 7 to 11 secondary school pupils have had their parents not consent to their being tested for covid-19 in school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are the individual data controllers responsible for processing any personal data, including obtaining and maintaining records of consent, for testing carried out on their sites. As part of testing, schools share data on tests carried out with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), at which point DHSC becomes the data controller. Therefore, the Department for Education does not hold the requested information.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of year 7 to 11 secondary school pupils have had their parents' consent to be tested for covid-19 in school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are the individual data controllers responsible for processing any personal data, including obtaining and maintaining records of consent, for testing carried out on their sites. As part of testing, schools share data on tests carried out with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), at which point DHSC becomes the data controller. Therefore, the Department for Education does not hold the requested information.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress the Government has made on mass lateral flow testing of university students; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care have worked in partnership with higher education (HE) institutions to deliver an asymptomatic mass testing programme to ensure that students could travel home from university in December and that students reading a subject listed within the guidance as essential in order to support the pipeline of future workers (as well as those with exemptions as outlined in guidance) can travel back to university safely and with confidence while protecting themselves, their friends, family and wider community.
Officials worked with the sector to ensure that almost all HE institutions were ready to provide 2 COVID-19 tests to students that returned in January 2021. I also wrote to Vice Chancellors on 21 January 2021, announcing that providers should commence regular ongoing lateral flow testing from 25 January 2021.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to deliver of covid- secure teaching without the use of (a) facemasks and (b) social distancing at special educational needs and disability schools during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The guidance entitled ‘full opening: special schools and other specialist settings’ includes details on how settings should put in place proportionate ‘System of Control’ measures to minimise the risk of transmission, including advice on the use of face masks and managing social distancing. This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings. Relevant for all specialist settings, this guidance is informed by advice from Public Health England and is updated, as necessary, to reflect current advice. Based on current evidence and the measures that settings have already put in place, such as the system of controls and consistent bubbles, face coverings will not be necessary in the classroom even where full social distancing is not possible. Face coverings could have a negative impact on teaching and their use in the classroom should currently be avoided.
Mainstream and special schools that teach children in years 7 and above, and which are under tier 1 local restrictions, may decide to recommend the wearing of face coverings for pupils and adults in indoor communal areas where social distancing is difficult to maintain. When an area moves to tier 2 or 3 local restrictions, face coverings should be worn by adults and pupils in year 7 and above in communal areas, and when moving around the premises outside of classrooms. This does not apply to those of any age who are exempt, such as those who cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering because of a physical impairment or disability, illness or mental health difficulties.
Primary school head teachers have the discretion to require adults to wear face coverings in indoor situations where social distancing is difficult to maintain. Primary-aged school children do not need to wear a face covering.
We recognise that maintaining distance or forming bubbles could be particularly difficult in special schools, particularly given the need for staff to administer care and provide therapies to children and young people. However, the average number of pupils or students attending a special school is much lower than the average number in a mainstream school, and this, in itself, will help to limit the number of contacts for any individual.
Our guidance, entitled ’Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE)’ provides further support on preventing and controlling infection, including the use of PPE in education, childcare and children’s social care settings during the COVID-19 outbreak. This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safe-working-in-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care/safe-working-in-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings-including-the-use-of-personal-protective-equipment-ppe#what-care-should-be-taken-in-residential-settings-including-residential-schools-residential-special-schools-and-childrens-care-homes.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy under his Department's restructuring regime to enable (a) Buckinghamshire New University and (b) other financially strong higher education institutions to assist nearby institutions in financial difficulty; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The government recognises the value of the higher education sector and that a high level of uncertainty remains around the scale of problems that higher education providers, as a whole and individually, may face in the coming academic year. We have been working closely with the higher education sector, in the Higher Education Taskforce, as well as with the Office for Students (OfS) and across the government to understand the financial risks that providers are facing and to help providers to access the support on offer. Providers with concerns about their financial viability or sustainability have been encouraged to contact the OfS at the earliest opportunity. They can now also directly contact the department’s Restructuring Unit at:
HE.RestructuringRegime@education.gov.uk.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced further information about the Higher Education Restructuring Regime on 16 July and more details are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-restructuring-regime.
This may be deployed as a last resort, if a decision has been made to support a provider in England, when other steps to preserve a provider’s viability and to mitigate the risks of financial failure have not proved sufficient. The overarching objectives that will guide the department’s assessment of cases will be to protect the welfare of current students, to preserve the sector’s internationally outstanding science base and to support the role that higher education providers play in regional and local economies through the provision of high-quality courses aligned with economic and societal needs.
We will consider providers’ circumstances on a case-by-case basis, supported by expert advice, to ensure there is a robust value-for-money case for intervention. In cases where an Independent Business Review is carried out, the resulting restructuring plan may include options for a merger as well as for consolidation and services sharing between providers. The department’s Restructuring Unit will work with the provider and other stakeholders to ensure that the best option forward is chosen to ensure that the overarching objectives, as mentioned previously, are met.
Regarding the circumstances of Buckinghamshire New University, the government does not comment on individual higher education providers.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the boarding fee income forgone by individual state boarding schools during the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Many boarding schools have been impacted by loss of income from a range of sources including boarding fees, catering and sports facilities. While these schools have, in some cases, been able to benefit from schemes such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, in line with guidance on the GOV.UK website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care), many have still been left facing financial challenges.
The Department continues its work to monitor and support the financial health of the whole education sector and the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is a crucial part of that.
The Department supports academy trusts facing financial difficulties through the existing framework for financial support (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-support-for-academy-trusts-in-financial-difficulty), which enables academies to approach the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for additional financial support.
A temporary measure has also been agreed that enables academy trusts to apply to the ESFA to use their general unrestricted reserves to support boarding provision in response to these circumstances.
In the case of maintained schools, schools should discuss with their local authority to make sure their use of unrestricted reserves complies with the local authority’s accounting requirements.