There is a “huge risk to children not being at school”, warns Labour

Labour frontbencher Toby Perkins has said that returning children to schools across England in September is not without risk but argued that “there is also a huge risk to children not being at school”.

In a Times Radio interview this morning, the shadow minister for apprenticeships and lifelong learning discussed a statement from the chief medical officer on Saturday about the safety of children returning to educational settings next month.

The government had already announced that all pupils in England will be expected to return to class full-time in September. In his statement, Chris Whitty said: “Many more [children] were likely to be harmed by not going than harmed by going”.

The Labour shadow minister reaffirmed that the party is supportive of the move, but said that having a working test and trace programme and making schools as safe as possible must be “hand-in-hand alongside returning children to schools”.

He insisted that Labour does not have a contradictory position: “Saying that it’s absolutely right that children need to return to schools… but also recognising that the government has absolutely failed on education aren’t contradictory positions.”

Asked about the teaching unions and the party not backing their calls for face coverings to be worn by all children, Perkins said: “We are organisations that work closely together but we’re not the same.

“They have their view and their responsibility towards teacher safety is absolutely primary,” he argued. “We have a broader responsibility across education, across the economy.”

He said that the party is working “closely and constructively” with the teachers’ unions and said that Labour has been “entirely in position with them” on many of their criticisms of how the government has handled education in the pandemic.

But the Labour MP said the party does not recognise the need for all children to wear face masks, and argued that the evidence from the chief medical officer suggested that the most danger to teachers comes from interactions with adults.

He added: “On a localised basis there may be additional need for additional safeguards, but in general terms I agree that we should be able to see schools return safely without the need for face masks to be worn right across the school.”

Responding to the chief medical officer’s statement, UNISON’s head of education Jon Richards said: “This acknowledgement of the transmission risk between staff in schools underlines why it’s vital they should be able to wear face coverings.

“It’s still unclear why government guidance won’t allow them, when they’re recommended for other workplaces. Regular deep cleaning is also key. Schools need more money to pay for specially trained cleaners, rather than relying on other staff who’re busy enough already.”

The Prime Minister and Education Secretary had previously announced that schools would begin reopening in June this year. But government figures show that just 52% of schools opened with only 25% of children eligible returning.

The deadline of June 1st had followed weeks during which parents, teachers, unions and the opposition had raised concerns and just 690,000 – or 6.9% of the normal school population – were found to be in school later that week.

Ministers were subsequently forced to back down on their plans for a phased return and U-turn on their commitment to get all primary school children back to school a month before the summer holidays.

The shadow education minister today described the Education Secretary’s position as untenable after his handling of the exams “fiasco” and asked “how many more chances” Williamson would get to demonstrate his whether he is competent.

Perkins suggested that if the government were “able to pick the people best able to do the job, rather than those most supine, they might start having better levels of confidence in their ability”.

The comments come after an intervention from the Labour leader in The Observer today, in which he warned that the plan to return children to school in September is at “serious risk” due to the handling of exam results.

Keir Starmer said: “Ministers should have spent the summer implementing a national plan to get all children back to school. Instead, the last two weeks have been wasted clearing up a mess of the government’s own making over exam results.”

He added: “Restoring public confidence and getting a grip on the Department for Education must be Downing Street’s number-one priority this week. Failure to do so will leave the government’s promise of ‘levelling up’ in tatters.”

Starmer’s remarks follow his article in The Mail on Sunday last weekend. He wrote then that he expected “all children back at school next month” and that the Prime Minister has a “moral responsibility to make sure that it happens”.

Since then, the government performed what he called a “screeching U-turn” on its handling of the exam results, scrapping the controversial grade standardisation which led to nearly 40% of A-Level students having their marks moderated down.