Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding and resources his Department is making available to schools for measures to manage the spread of covid-19 in schools in the 2021-22 academic year.

Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, schools have continued to receive their core funding as normal. School budgets increased by £2.6 billion in financial year 2020/21, and will increase by a further £4.8 billion in 2021/22 and £7.1 billion in 2022/23, compared to 2019/20.

On top of existing budgets, the Department has provided additional funding to schools to cover the unavoidable costs and specific challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak, such as through the exceptional costs fund in the early stages of the outbreak. In addition, schools are benefitting from a substantial recovery package, worth over £3 billion in additional support, to tackle the impact of lost teaching time.

In line with Step 4 of the roadmap, the Government has relaxed the majority of COVID-19 restrictions. The Department’s priority is for all nurseries and schools to deliver face to face, high quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.

Schools should continue to ensure good hygiene for everyone, maintain appropriate cleaning regimes, keep occupied spaces well ventilated and follow public health advice on testing, self-isolation and managing confirmed cases of COVID-19.