Nurseries: Coronavirus

(asked on 11th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate the Government has made of the rate of covid-19 transmission in nurseries in England; what steps his department is taking to support nurseries in Liverpool West Derby to reduce transmission of covid-19; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including nursery staff in the first phase of thecovid-19 vaccination rollout.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 14th January 2021

Early years settings remain low risk environments for children and staff. Current evidence suggests that pre-school children (0 to less than 5 years) are less susceptible to infection and are unlikely to be playing a driving role in transmission. There is no evidence that the new strain of COVID-19 causes more serious illness in either children or adults, or that it disproportionately affects young children.

Public Health England (PHE) advice remains that the risk of transmission and infection is low if early years settings follow the system of controls, which reduce risks and create inherently safer environments. This report from PHE shows that, at present under 5s have the lowest confirmed case rate of all age groups: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports.

Early years settings have been open to all children since 1 June 2020, and there is no evidence that the early years sector has contributed to a significant rise in virus cases within the community. Early modelling evidence from SAGE showed that early years provision had a smaller relative impact on transmission rate when modelled with both primary schools and secondary schools. Further information on this evidence is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/886994/s0257-sage-sub-group-modelling-behavioural-science-relaxing-school-closures-sage30.pdf.

We continue to prioritise keeping early years settings open in full because of the clear benefits to children’s education and wellbeing and to support working parents. Caring for the youngest age group is not something that can be done remotely.

These plans are being kept under review in the light of emerging scientific evidence. We are working with the scientific community to understand the properties and dynamics of the new variant VUI-202012/01 in relation to children and young people.

The department has been in regular contact with all local authorities, including that of Liverpool West Derby. During these meetings we collect and feedback the concerns and issues raised by providers and the local authority to the relevant policy teams within the department, to ensure that policy is reflective of the needs and experiences of those delivering essential early education.

PHE have endorsed a ‘system of controls’ which are the set of actions all early years settings must take. These are outlined in more detail here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures.

These build on the hierarchy of protective measures that have been in use throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. When implemented in line with a revised risk assessment, these measures create an inherently safer environment for children and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age.

Regarding the next phase of vaccine rollout, JCVI have asked that the Department of Health and Social Care consider occupational vaccination in collaboration with other government departments. The Department will input into this cross governmental exercise.

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