Extended Services: Coronavirus

(asked on 13th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the availability of wraparound childcare for the children of key workers.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 20th October 2020

The department does not hold a central register of all wraparound provision and so does not routinely collect data on the number of providers in operation.

However, as of 4 July, wraparound care providers and other providers of out-of-school activities to children have been able to open, both on or away from school premises, with protective measures in place. We have published further updated guidance for providers who run before and after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school settings for children on the protective measures that should be put in place to ensure they are operating as safely as possible. This is to also ensure that with the introduction of our new local COVID-19 alert levels, that wraparound childcare is able to remain open to support parents, and in particular key workers, to continue to work. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

Limitations on childcare will be a last resort, and we will ensure that priority is given to vulnerable children and young people and children of critical workers for this provision in all cases.

We also know that many schools operate their own breakfast and after school clubs, and they should be working to resume this provision, if they have not already. As part of our guidance to schools on full opening, we have provided schools with guidance to support them in reopening this valuable provision. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#wraparound-provision-and-extra-curricular-activity.

In addition, our Regional Education and Children’s Teams, comprising education and social care staff from both the department and Ofsted, are working closely with local authorities, and will act as a valuable source of intelligence on the sufficiency of wraparound childcare places in local areas.

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