Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to issue guidance to universities on making adjustments and improvements to premises used for teaching and accommodation to (a) improve ventilation and (b) reduce the risk of covid-19 transmission during the summer 2022 university vacation period.

The department has no plans to issue further guidance to the higher education (HE) sector with regards to COVID-19.

On 21 February 2022, the Prime Minister announced the Living with COVID-19 guidance which set out how England would move into a new phase of managing COVID-19. On 1 April 2022, the department published ‘Emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings’. This is non-statutory guidance which replaced previous guidance for education settings, including HE. This emergency planning and response guidance was produced to help all education,including HE, childcare, and children’s social care settings respond to emergencies.

In April 2022, the UK Health Security Agency published a practical guide for staff on managing cases of infectious diseases in education and childcare settings. This included guidance on keeping occupied spaces well ventilated. There is additional guidance on ventilation in the workplace provided by the Health and Safety Executive, available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/ventilation/.

The department remains grateful to the HE sector for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the great effort it makes to ensure staff and students remain protected.