Education

Covid-19: Educational Settings

The last thing any Education Secretary wants to do is announce that schools will close…I never wanted to be in a position where we had to close schools again.

An error has been identified in my statement.

The correct statement should have been:

The last thing any Education Secretary wants to do is announce that schools will close for some…I never wanted to be in a position where we had to close schools for some again.

I strongly welcome the Government’s laptop scheme, but we know that there will still be possibly hundreds of thousands of people on the wrong side of the digital divide. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that those students who just do not have an internet connection or computers at home will be able to go to school alongside children of critical workers?...

The reason we are rolling out and expanding our devices package is that we realise how important it is for all children, especially those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. In the previous situation where schools had to be closed, during the months of March, April and May, children who did not have access to digital devices were able to access education in school, and I can confirm that we are issuing the same standard and the same guidance today.

An error has been identified in my response to my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon).

The correct response should have been:

The reason we are rolling out and expanding our devices package is that we realise how important it is for all children, especially those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. In the previous situation where schools had to be closed, during the months of March, April and May, children who did not have access to digital devices were able to access education in school if they were considered vulnerable by their school or local authority, and I can confirm that we are issuing the same standard and the same guidance today.

I share my right hon. Friend’s concern over schools being closed, especially for children in Wealden who do not have access to technology. Can he double confirm that those children without access to tech are now seen as vulnerable, and can immediately access physical education—I mean, attend school—and will not have to jump through hoops to be able to get into school?

I can absolutely confirm that. That was issued in our initial guidance on school closures back in March last year. We have repeated that self-same guidance all the way through where schools have been in an unfortunate position, because we have had to recognise that during the latter stages of last year, there were schools that were closed, and even during that time children who did not have access to that type of education were able to access education settings.

An error has been identified in my response to my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Ms Ghani).

The correct response should have been:

I can absolutely confirm that vulnerable children’s access to school was issued in our initial guidance on school closures back in March last year. We have repeated that self-same guidance all the way through where schools have been in an unfortunate position, because we have had to recognise that during the latter stages of last year, there were schools that were closed, and even during that time children who did not have access to that type of education were able to access education settings.