Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take to support early years providers with the additional costs associated with (a) personal protective equipment and (b) enhanced cleaning measures.
Keeping children and staff safe is our utmost priority. We continue to work with the early years sector to understand how they can best be supported to ensure that sufficient safe, appropriate and affordable childcare is available for those who need it now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.
Most early years staff will not require personal protective equipment (PPE) beyond what they would normally need for their work. If a child already has routine intimate care needs that involve the use of PPE, the same PPE should continue to be used. Additional PPE for COVID-19 is only required in a very limited number of scenarios, for example, when:
The Department has published guidance for nurseries to follow, which provides further details about cleaning and PPE: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures.
For further information about cleaning, Public Health England has published guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings. This contains advice on the general cleaning required in addition to the existing advice on cleaning when there is a suspected case.
For further information about funding support, guidance is available through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care.