Schools: Coronavirus

(asked on 10th May 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to immediately communicate to schools that they can use any stocks of lateral flow tests held locally; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Robin Walker Portrait
Robin Walker
This question was answered on 18th May 2022

Public health advice continues to be that testing in education and childcare settings is no longer needed. Most infectious diseases in education and childcare settings can be managed by following the advice in UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) updated health protection in education and childcare settings guidance. Students and staff should follow UKHSA’s advice for those who have symptoms.

As individuals are now mixing in an otherwise open society, regular testing within school and colleges is no longer as effective as it once was. Instead, the most effective protection against severe disease from COVID-19 for everyone, including those at higher risk from COVID-19, is to get vaccinated.

Although settings may still have some unused test kits in stock, they should not continue to hand these out to staff or students or dispose of them (unless they have reached their expiry date).

The department are currently working with UKHSA to explore the options for removal of testing resources no longer required and repurpose or redeploy them as much as possible based on clinical need prioritisation.

In the meantime, settings should retain any surplus stock and may wish to note this in their contingency plans. The department has published emergency planning and responce guidance for education and childcare settings here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.

The department is also aware that some schools and colleges have reported finding the recruitment of invigilators more challenging this year. We are working with exam boards to monitor the risk and have supported recruitment by sharing The Exams Office’s vacancy map with pools of invigilators like parents and higher education students.

The Joint Council for Qualifications has published updated guidance for centres managing exams in case of invigilator shortage. This includes information about varying start times; alternative sites; invigilation ratios; use of subject teachers as invigilators; addressing challenges for individual candidates; and remote invigilation.

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