Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring additional protection measures to prevent the transmission of covid-19 in SEN schools.

The Department continues to work closely with other Government Departments throughout its response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including Public Health England (PHE) and the Department of Health and Social Care, as well as stakeholders across the sector. We continue to work to ensure that our policy is based on the latest scientific and medical advice, to continue to develop comprehensive guidance based on the PHE-endorsed ‘system of controls’ and to understand the impact and effectiveness of these measures on staff, pupils and parents.

The Department has recently published updated guidance for schools, including special schools and other specialist settings. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings.

As the guidance outlines, implementing the system of controls in line with a wider risk assessment creates a safer environment for staff and pupils where the risk of transmission of the infection is substantially reduced. All elements of the system of controls are essential, but the way schools, colleges and nurseries implement the elements will differ based on their individual circumstances. Schools, colleges and nurseries have duties to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils and students to support them to access education successfully.

PHE advice remains that the way to control COVID-19 is the same, even with the current new variants. We are further strengthening the measures to provide more reassurance and to help decrease the disruption that the outbreak causes to education. We will keep all measures under review and update guidance as necessary.