Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has provided to (a) schools, (b) colleges and (c) universities that want to make stocks of lateral flow covid-19 tests available to students and invigilators during the assessment and exams period; and if he will make a statement.

Public health advice continues to be that testing in education and childcare providers is no longer needed. Most infectious diseases in education and childcare settings can be managed by following the advice in UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) updated health protection in education and childcare settings guidance. Students and staff should follow UKHSA’s advice for those who have symptoms.

As individuals are now mixing in an otherwise open society, regular testing within school and colleges is no longer as effective as it once was. Instead, the most effective protection against severe disease from COVID-19 for everyone, including those at higher risk from COVID-19, is to get vaccinated.

Although education providers may still have some unused test kits in stock, they should not continue to hand these out to staff or students or dispose of them (unless they have reached their expiry date).

The department are currently working with UKHSA to explore the options for removal of testing resources no longer required and repurpose or redeploy them as much as possible based on clinical need prioritisation.

In the meantime, settings should retain any surplus stock and may wish to note this in their contingency plans. The department has published emergency planning and response guidance for education and childcare settings here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.