Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional financial support his Department has allocated to schools in Enfield to support (a) cleanliness and hygiene and (b) the recruitment of supply teachers in cases where teachers are having to self-isolate since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.

The first window for schools to claim funding back for exceptional costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak, between March and July 2020, closed on 21 July. Payments against claims made within the published scope of the fund were made to schools and academies in September. Schools in Enfield have received the following payments for additional cleaning costs required due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, over and above the cost of existing cleaning arrangements.

Schools can now claim for any costs that fell between March and July in the same approved categories, for which they did not claim during the first window. Schools can make claims here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19/exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19--2.

In addition to this, the Department has announced details of a new COVID-19 workforce fund for schools and colleges to help them remain open: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-workforce-fund-for-schools/coronavirus-covid-19-workforce-fund-to-support-schools-with-costs-of-staff-absences-from-1-november-2020-to-31-december-2020. It will fund the costs of teacher absences over a threshold in schools and colleges, and is intended for those with high staff absences that are also facing significant financial pressures. The Department expects schools to be able to claim for workforce costs relating to November and December 2020 in spring 2021. Schools will be able to incur additional costs, backdated to November, in the knowledge that they will be reimbursed if they meet the relevant criteria.