Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what further steps he plans to take to increase (a) ventilation and (b) mask wearing in schools in the context of high covid-19 infection rates.
Answered by Robin Walker
The day-to-day measures in place in nurseries, schools and colleges are based on the latest scientific advice and strike a balance between managing transmission risk and reducing disruption to children and young people’s education.
Letting fresh air into indoor spaces can help remove air that contains virus particles and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Good ventilation has also been associated with a range of benefits, including improved health, better concentration, and lower rates of absence from schools and work. Measuring CO2 levels in indoor spaces is an effective way of identifying poor ventilation in multi-occupant spaces, such as classrooms.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the department has emphasised the importance of ventilation and provided guidance to nurseries, schools and colleges on ventilation requirements. The department has now also started to provide CO2 monitors to state-funded nurseries, schools and further education colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding. The roll out to all special schools and alternative provision is now complete. Monitors are now being delivered to mainstream settings and the programme is on track to make all deliveries by the end of the autumn term.
The department expects that, in most cases, the monitors will confirm that existing ventilation is sufficient. Where any issues are identified, in most cases we expect this to be resolved by opening windows and doors, or in some cases minor estate repairs may be needed.
The case for additional support for nurseries, schools and colleges to maintain good ventilation will be kept under review as the programme continues and schools use the monitors to further assess their ventilation needs.
Since Step 4 of the Government’s roadmap, face coverings are no longer recommended as a default in any education or childcare settings. The government expects and recommends that face coverings are worn in enclosed and crowded spaces where individuals may come into contact with people they do not normally meet. This includes public transport and dedicated transport to school or college.
The government may offer local authorities an enhanced response package to areas of particular concern to help limit increases in transmission. Directors of Public Health have discretion to re-introduce advice on face-coverings in nurseries, schools and colleges across areas that have been offered an enhanced response package. As part of their outbreak management responsibilities, Directors of Public Health may also recommend face coverings for an individual setting experiencing an outbreak.
Nurseries, schools and colleges 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. The department will continue to keep these measures under review, in partnership with health experts and informed by the latest scientific evidence and advice.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reintroduce COVID-19 safety measures in secondary schools in light of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in younger people.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s priority is for schools to deliver face to face, high quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education can cause significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, and mental and physical health. As COVID-19 becomes a virus that we learn to live with, there is now an imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education.
While the latest data and scientific modelling suggest that cases will continue to rise as restrictions are eased, we are now in a context that has fundamentally changed due to the success of the vaccination programme.
We have therefore moved away from stringent restrictions on everyone’s day-to-day lives, towards advising people on how to protect themselves and others, alongside targeted interventions to reduce risk.
All young people aged 16 and 17 years have already been offered a first dose of vaccine and 12 to 17 year olds with certain medical conditions that make them more at risk of serious illness, or who are living with someone who is immunosuppressed, are eligible for 2 doses.
To reduce transmission, the department is keeping some measures in place across nurseries, schools and colleges to enable us to provide as normal an experience as possible. This will be supported by our ability to respond swiftly and consistently to any exceptional circumstances should it prove necessary and may include reintroducing additional control measures for a limited period to deal with outbreaks. These are set out in the contingency framework: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Schools continue to have their own health and safety risk assessments and keep these under review. As part of this there are certain control measures we have asked schools to maintain in order to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. This includes ensuring good hygiene for everyone, maintaining appropriate cleaning regimes and keeping occupied spaces well ventilated.
Carbon dioxide monitors have also been provided to all state-funded schools starting from September, so staff can quickly identify where ventilation needs to be improved. The government has also launched a trial of air purifiers in 30 schools in Bradford, which is designed to assess the technology in education settings and whether they could reduce the risk of transmission.
The department will continue to keep these measures under review, in partnership with health experts and informed by the latest scientific evidence and advice.
Asked by: Earl of Shrewsbury (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following reports of people drinking alcohol-based hand sanitiser, what plans they have to withdraw those products from schools and replace them with effective alternatives.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has developed extensive guidance for all settings across the education, childcare and children’s social care sectors on how to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, including a range of protective and control measures for preventing the spread of the virus. There is information to support settings on their responsibilities that advises to clean their hands thoroughly, and more often than usual, as well as good basic hygiene, and the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach, which advises individuals to clean their hands with soap and water or use sanitiser: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-covid-19-operational-guidance#control-measures.
Ultimately, schools remain responsible for the products that they require and, as with other cleaning products, schools can access hand sanitiser through their existing supply chains. There are many alcohol- and non-alcohol-based hand sanitisers and surface disinfectants on the UK market and schools should base the use of any of these products on their own risk assessment, alongside existing guidance.
Our guidance signposts settings to the e-Bug COVID-19 website which contains free resources for settings, including materials to encourage good hand and respiratory hygiene. This information can be found at the following link: https://e-bug.eu/eng_home.aspx?cc=eng&ss=1&t=Information%20about%20the%20Coronavirus.
All education, childcare and children’s social care settings should follow the UK Health Security Agency, formally known as Public Health England, guidance on cleaning for non-healthcare settings outside of the home. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings.
Hand sanitisers and surface disinfectants are biocidal products. They are regulated by the Health and Safety Executive. The Health and Safety Executive publishes a list of authorised biocidal products, including hand sanitisers and surface disinfectants: https://www.hse.gov.uk/biocides/uk-authorised-biocidal-products.htm.
The Cabinet Office and the Department for Health and Social Care published product specifications and standards associated with personal protective equipment at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/927550/Essential_technical_specifications_PPE_and_medical_devices-v0.3_Oct2020_accessible.pdf.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of influenza-like illness outbreaks in care homes.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Many of the measures we have implemented to tackle COVID-19 will also be effective against flu, such as hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, social distancing, environmental cleaning and use of personal protective equipment.
Public Health England’s local health protection teams investigate notifications of suspected influenza/respiratory virus outbreaks in care homes and alongside making recommendations on infection prevention and control measures, can recommend that local services consider prescribing antivirals to prevent and treat flu where needed.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to protect care home residents during the forthcoming winter flu season.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Measures are in place to monitor and reduce the spread any influenza outbreaks within care homes. All care home residents and staff are eligible for flu vaccination and measures that are effective for COVID-19 work for flu. Hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, social distancing, environmental cleaning, use of personal protective equipment and other COVID-19 precautions provide protection against flu. Public Health England’s local health protection teams investigate notifications of suspected influenza/respiratory virus outbreaks in care homes and alongside making recommendations on infection control measures, can recommend that local services consider prescribing antivirals to prevent and treat flu where needed.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has she undertaken of the effect biological cleaning systems can have on (a) personal sensitisation, (b) sanitising work and (c) social places as part of work to reduce the spread of the covid-19 virus.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has taken the context of this question to mean that the term biological cleaning systems are the use of industrial enzymes (microbial and other animal sources) that are added to certain specialised healthcare and industrial cleaning products, typically used to pre-treat/clean equipment surfaces prior to finally cleaning or disinfection. HSE is not aware of the use of any biological cleaning systems like these being used to reduce the spread of COVID-19. HSE does provides guidance on Cleaning, hygiene and handwashing to reduce coronavirus (COVID-19) transmission (hse.gov.uk) as well as Disinfecting using fog, mist and other systems during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (hse.gov.uk).’
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what precautionary covid-19 related health and safety measures will be implemented in schools when the academic year begins in September 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s priority is for all schools to deliver face to face, high quality education to all children, pupils and students. The Department has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to revise the guidance for schools. 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. As pupils will potentially have mixed with many other people during the summer holidays, all secondary school pupils should receive 2 on-site lateral flow device tests, 3 to 5 days apart, on their return in the autumn term.
Schools should continue to conduct risk assessments and take appropriate action in line with the control measures. Schools should have contingency plans in place outlining the actions they would take if pupils and staff test positive for COVID-19, or how they would operate if they were advised to take extra measures to help break chains of transmission.
The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, and mental and physical health. In making decisions, the Government has balanced education and health considerations, weighing the impact of these measures on teaching, wellbeing and the functioning of schools and nurseries, against the risks posed by COVID-19, in a context that has now fundamentally changed due to the success of the vaccination rollout.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that pupils can return to full-time education in the 2021-22 academic year without interruption or risk of losing in-school teaching days during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s priority is for schools to deliver face to face, high quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education can cause significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, and mental and physical health.
To reduce transmission, the Department is keeping some measures in place across nurseries, schools and colleges to enable us to provide as normal an experience as possible as schools welcome pupils back in larger numbers. This will be supported by our ability to respond swiftly and consistently to any exceptional circumstances should it prove necessary and may include reintroducing additional control measures for a limited period to deal with outbreaks. These are set out in the contingency framework: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
The Department has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to revise guidance for schools from Step 4: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak. The Department’s aim is to balance the risks associated with COVID-19 whilst moving to a position that minimises both the burden of implementing a system of controls on schools and the impact those measures have on young people’s educational experience.
Schools are no longer asked to keep children and young people in consistent groups (‘bubbles’). As well as enabling flexibility in curriculum delivery, this means that assemblies can resume, and schools and colleges no longer need to make alternative arrangements to avoid mixing at lunch. Nurseries, schools and colleges 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.
Face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff, and visitors either in classrooms or in communal areas. The Government has removed the requirement to wear face coverings but expects and recommends that they are worn in enclosed and crowded spaces where pupils or staff may come into contact with people they do not normally meet. This includes public transport and dedicated transport to school or college.
The Department will continue to keep these measures under review, in partnership with health experts and informed by the latest scientific evidence and advice.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department is putting in place to tackle covid-19 outbreaks in schools from September 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s priority is for schools to deliver face to face, high quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education can cause significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, and mental and physical health.
To reduce transmission, the Department is keeping some measures in place across nurseries, schools and colleges to enable us to provide as normal an experience as possible as schools welcome pupils back in larger numbers. This will be supported by our ability to respond swiftly and consistently to any exceptional circumstances should it prove necessary and may include reintroducing additional control measures for a limited period to deal with outbreaks. These are set out in the contingency framework: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
The Department has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to revise guidance for schools from Step 4: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak. The Department’s aim is to balance the risks associated with COVID-19 whilst moving to a position that minimises both the burden of implementing a system of controls on schools and the impact those measures have on young people’s educational experience.
Schools are no longer asked to keep children and young people in consistent groups (‘bubbles’). As well as enabling flexibility in curriculum delivery, this means that assemblies can resume, and schools and colleges no longer need to make alternative arrangements to avoid mixing at lunch. Nurseries, schools and colleges 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.
Face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff, and visitors either in classrooms or in communal areas. The Government has removed the requirement to wear face coverings but expects and recommends that they are worn in enclosed and crowded spaces where pupils or staff may come into contact with people they do not normally meet. This includes public transport and dedicated transport to school or college.
The Department will continue to keep these measures under review, in partnership with health experts and informed by the latest scientific evidence and advice.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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.
Answered by Nick Gibb
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.