UK Military personnel will provide planning and training support
to secondary schools and colleges with testing at the start of
the spring term.
The personnel are on standby to support secondary schools and
colleges across England to roll out COVID-19 testing to students
and staff as the new term begins in January.
The Armed Forces deployment across England builds on successful
school testing pilots conducted in November and December.
Personnel supported thousands of tests being carried out at pilot
schools, demonstrating the value of lateral flow devices rapidly
testing students in a school environment.
1,500 Armed Forces personnel are being made available to support
the Department for Education and Department for Health and Social
Care to ensure that students and staff can return as safely as
possible to secondary schools and colleges across England.
The majority of personnel will form local response teams,
providing support and phone advice to institutions needing
guidance on the testing process and set-up of the testing
facilities.
This will be done predominantly through webinars and individual
meetings, but teams will also be on standby to deploy at short
notice to provide in-person support to resolve any issues in the
situations where testing would otherwise not be able to go ahead.
Schools and colleges will shortly be provided with further
information on how to request additional support if needed.
A small team of planners is embedded in the Department for Health
and Social care who are supporting the Department for Education
to help coordinate the support. The majority of personnel will be
on task from this week as they start to conduct training.
Defence Secretary said:
“The UK Armed Forces are stepping up once again this holiday.
This week I have authorised over a thousand Armed Forces
personnel to assist schools returning after the Christmas break.
“They’ll share considerable experience of testing across the
country and the successful school pilots conducted this autumn.
“We are grateful for the professionalism and commitment they and
our colleagues in teaching are showing to get students back into
the classroom and on with their education.”
Every secondary school and college in England is being offered
testing, with £78 million funding for schools and colleges to
support this offer.
As well as additional funding, the government will provide
schools and colleges with the kit they need and have introduced a
staggered return at the start of term.
Education Secretary
said:
“It is a true cross-government effort to make sure secondary
schools and colleges have the support, guidance, materials and
funding they need to offer rapid testing to their staff and
students from the start of term.
“I am grateful to the armed forces personnel, and all the school
and college staff, leaders and volunteers working to put testing
in place. This will help break chains of transmission, fight the
virus, and help deliver the national priority of keeping
education open for all.”
Students will be expected to swab themselves in the vast majority
of cases, under the supervision of a school staff member or
volunteer who has been trained for the role. Teachers are not
expected to take a role in the testing process.
This support is being provided through the Military Aid to Civil
Authorities (MACA) process. There are currently around 2914
personnel committed to 55 tasks to support other government
departments and civil authorities with the response to
coronavirus. This includes support with community testing across
the UK, the provision of ambulance drivers in Wales and testing
support for hauliers in Kent.
