Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of schools providing care before and after the start of the school day on reopening as the covid-19 restrictions are eased.

As of 4 July, providers offering before or after-school care and other out-of-school activities to children have been able to open, both on or away from school premises, with protective measures in place.

The department does not hold a central register of all wraparound provision and so does not routinely collect data on the number of providers in operation. However, newly established REACT teams, comprising education and social care staff from both this department and Ofsted, are working closely with local authorities and will be a valuable source of intelligence on the sufficiency of wraparound care places in local areas.

We are also encouraging schools to resume their breakfast and after-school club provision, where possible, from the start of the autumn term; and, as part of our guidance to schools on full opening, have provided them with guidance to support them in reopening this valuable provision, which is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#wraparound-provision-and-extra-curricular-activity.

Schools should also be working closely with any external wraparound providers which their pupils may use, to ensure as far as possible, children can be kept in a group with other children from the same bubble they are in during the school day; and we have published further updated guidance for providers who run before and after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school settings for children on the protective measures that should be put in place from the start of the autumn term, to ensure they are operating as safely as possible when all children return to school. This guidance is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.