PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Schools: Coronavirus (6 January 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the ability of schools to provide the covid-19 testing required to keep staff and students safe; and what additional funding he will provide to schools to support that testing.

Asked by:
Sarah Owen (Labour)

The delivery model for asymptomatic testing in schools is structured around schools’ ability to deliver the necessary tasks and roles required to deliver the tests in a safe environment for staff, pupils and volunteers. New technology that allows for rapid testing means that schools can now introduce our programme of asymptomatic testing in secondary schools and colleges. This is weekly testing for the workforce and daily testing for staff or students who are identified as close contacts of a positive case from within the education setting. Daily testing of contacts will mean that they do not need to isolate and can stay in face-to-face education.

A total of £78 million has been made available to meet the costs of testing.

Answered by:
Nick Gibb (Conservative)
15 January 2021