Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to review the guidance on covid-19 bubbles within schools ahead of the summer holidays.

From Step 4 it will no longer be necessary to keep children and young people in consistent groups (‘bubbles’). This means that bubbles will not need to be used for any summer provision (for example, summer schools) or in schools from the autumn term.

As well as enabling flexibility in curriculum delivery, this means that assemblies can resume, and schools no longer need to make alternative arrangements to avoid mixing at lunch. Schools and colleges may of course decide to keep the current arrangement for the last few days of term.

Schools and colleges should make sure their outbreak management plans cover the possibility that in some local areas it may become necessary to reintroduce ‘bubbles’ for a temporary period, to reduce mixing between groups.

Any decision to reintroduce ‘bubbles’ would not be taken lightly and would need to take account of the detrimental impact they can have on the delivery of education. The Department has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to develop guidance for schools.