Schools: Coronavirus

(asked on 19th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools will be required to contribute to the cost of mass asymptomatic testing from their own budgets.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 27th January 2021

The Government will fund secondary schools and colleges that have remained open for costs relating to testing on site. We have published a workforce planning tool which illustrates the levels of funding available for school and colleges.

Primary schools will not receive additional funding to carry out testing. Primary school staff (including staff in schools-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools) will be supplied with at home Lateral Flow Device (LFD) test kits which they will be able to use before coming into work. The LFDs supplied do not require laboratory processing and can provide a quick result in up to an hour in a home setting. We are seeking to minimise the burden on primary schools in relation to processing testing. No further equipment or funding is therefore required for the administration of these tests. Funding is being provided for secondary schools, colleges, and special/alternative provision settings as we are asking them to establish testing sites on the school estate.

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