PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Children: Coronavirus (28 April 2020)

As my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have both made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by Covid-19.

Our latest guidance on vulnerable children is set out below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings.

Attending school is a strong protective factor for many vulnerable children and young people. This is why education settings remain open for these children. We are closely monitoring the attendance of vulnerable children and encouraging attendance where that would be in their best interests. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has written to leaders of all education settings and directors of children‘s services in England to encourage attendance for these children.

Around 58,000 vulnerable children were attending an educational setting in the week ending 1 May, compared to about 50,000 the previous week.

A key focus for the start of this new term was to increase the attendance of vulnerable children and young people. In many schools (multi-academy trusts and local authority areas) there are great examples of work being done to encourage children to attend schools. Our new Regional Education and Children’s Teams are sharing that practice through their regional approach.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has stressed the need for schools, local authorities and social workers to maintain contact and support services throughout this period. Officials in the department, and re-deployed Ofsted Inspection teams, are working with local authorities directly to ensure that their systems and processes for maintaining contact with vulnerable children are robust in every local authority in England and to share good practice. We have issued detailed guidance explaining how education providers can support vulnerable children, including to monitor and encourage attendance.

Where vulnerable children and young people are not attending nursery, school or further education settings, we have asked local authorities and educational settings to ensure that every vulnerable child knows that their setting is there to support them and that systems are in place to keep in touch with those children who are unable to attend.

These are rapidly developing circumstances and we will continue to keep the situation under review and to keep Parliament updated accordingly.