Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on the number of hours of extra curricular activity that will be provided following the advice issued by his Department that such activities can only take pace in order to support parents to work, seek work, or to undertake education or training, and for the purposes of respite care for vulnerable children.

As outlined in the guidance for education and childcare settings on the new national restrictions from 5 November 2020, providers of out-of-school activities, including wraparound care, can continue to operate for the duration of the period of national restrictions. However, these providers should ensure that parents using them for face-to-face provision are only doing so where such is reasonably necessary, in order to: enable them to work or search for work; undertake training or education; or for the purposes of respite care. Additional information on this guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-and-childcare-settings-new-national-restrictions-from-5-november-2020#ooss.

Schools and colleges can, and should, also continue to offer before and after school or college clubs and activities for their pupils, for the same reasons listed above. This includes activities and clubs related to PE and sport, music, dance and drama.

The department does not hold a central register of all wraparound or extracurricular provision, and so does not routinely collect data on attendance at these settings. However, the department has been in close communication with various stakeholders, including several wraparound childcare providers and extra-curricular providers, since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. We will continue this communication during the period of national restrictions, to understand the impact on attendance and number of hours children and young people are spending at these settings.