Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he plans to take to ensure that each school has the right quantity and quality of personal protective equipment (PPE) according to their respective risk assessments; and how that PPE will be funded.

We have worked closely with Public Health England (PHE) and stakeholders to develop guidance on a hierarchy of controls for all nurseries and schools which, when implemented, will create an inherently safer system where the risk of transmission of the infection is substantially reduced. These include protective measures such as ensuring that anyone with symptoms does not attend their education settings, promoting high standards of hand and respiratory hygiene, regular cleaning of touched surfaces, and minimising contact and mixing.

Our guidance also outlines that PPE is only needed within schools in a very small number of cases. In these very specific circumstances, schools and nurseries should use their local supply chains to obtain PPE. If schools and nurseries cannot obtain the PPE they need, they should approach their local authority (LA) who should support them to access local PPE markets and available stock locally. If the LA is not able to meet any urgent unmet PPE needs, the LA should approach their nearest local resilience forum (LRF) which will allocate stock if it is available.

Schools will continue to receive their core funding allocations through which PPE should be funded.

The full guidance on safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings, including the use of PPE, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safe-working-in-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care/safe-working-in-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings-including-the-use-of-personal-protective-equipment-ppe.