Coronavirus: Screening

(asked on 30th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the uptake of covid-19 testing during the summer 2021 term.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 5th July 2021

Rapid testing is a vital part of the Government’s plan to supress COVID-19. Testing is voluntary but staff, pupils and students are strongly encouraged to participate in the education testing programme to help to reduce transmission of COVID-19 in school and college settings and the community.

Pupils, students, and staff have made an incredible and important contribution to the Government’s mass testing programme. As of 23 June, over 60.5 million tests have been completed in total through education settings since January. In recent weeks, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has written open letters to all parents, and to schools and college leaders, to thank them for their contribution so far and to encourage them to continue their efforts to keep pupils and students testing until the end of term.

The Department has worked in partnership with NHS Test and Trace to understand the barriers to rapid testing amongst school and college students and to take steps to encourage uptake of both testing and the reporting of results. These steps have included: improvements to the digital journey for parents, providing advice and guidance to schools and colleges, utilising a range of communications channels to reach parents and pupils directly, collecting and sharing best practice, and giving schools and colleges access to aggregate testing data for their setting to support them to take action where participation rates are low.

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