Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help prepare education settings for further waves of covid-19 in winter 2022.

As we all learn to live with COVID-19, public health experts will manage COVID-19 like other respiratory illnesses with a focus on protecting those at highest risk.

Individual education and childcare providers continue to have responsibility for putting in place proportionate control measures in compliance with health and safety law, to ensure they meet their health and safety duties. Most infectious diseases in education settings can be managed by following the advice in the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) health protection in schools and other childcare facilities guidance, and by encouraging students and staff to follow UKHSA’s advice for those who have symptoms or test positive. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities.

The department has also updated the Emergency Planning and Response guidance for education and childcare providers to reflect what we have learned over the past two years. This guidance sets out how education and childcare providers should plan for and deal with emergencies, including the possibility of future significant public health incidents. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.