Open windows not an answer in winter, Labour warns, as Government’s ventilation failure creates further education disruption

Labour has today [Thursday] warned that the Government’s failure to get ventilation measures in place is pushing schools to open windows despite plummeting temperatures and causing energy bills to rocket.

On a visit to a school in Greenwich, Stephen Morgan MP, Labour’s new Shadow Schools Minister said: “Twelve months on from the Government taking Greenwich to court over keeping kids safe in class, the Government still has no plan on ventilation. This is literally a problem that Ministers should have fixed when the sun was shining.”

Sage first highlighted the importance of ventilation in schools in May 2020, but 19 months on the Government has failed to act on their advice. Pilot trials of air purifiers in classrooms will not deliver a final report until October 2022, nearly three years after the start of the pandemic.

The absence of national leadership has left schools in England trailing behind international counterparts on Covid mitigations, with New York installing 100,000 air purifier systems in classrooms and Germany spending €200m on mobile air filters to help keep schools Covid secure.

Labour analysis of figures from the House of Commons Library has revealed that increases in electricity and gas prices could send school energy costs soaring by up to £80 million, without accounting for open windows.

Stephen Morgan MP, Labour’s Shadow Schools Minister, said:

“It is outrageous that because of the Government’s incompetence schools are being left with no option but to open windows as temperatures plummet and heating bills rise just to get adequate ventilation. Schools and local authorities are working incredibly hard to support children, but the government is again treating them as an afterthought.

“The Government should have had a proper plan in place to stop a third year of Covid disruption to education but their chaotic, last-minute approach is leaving children bearing the brunt of the pandemic once again.

“It is already cold. In a month’s time it will be colder. Ministers must get ahead of this virus now and put in place the ventilation systems which Labour, teachers and parents have been calling for many months. Schools are having to spend money on energy bills which they should be spending on our children.”

Ends

Notes to editors

• SAGE advised on 21 May that that “opening schools…safely would require a significant effort to ensure that environments are appropriate to minimise transmission (for example distancing and hygiene measures, ventilation). Systems to evaluate this, and, potentially, enforcements mechanisms will be required’’ - 21 May 2021, Sage minutes

• The Government’s pilot of air purifiers in Bradford schools is not expected to provide its full report until October 2022, with an interim report published earlier in 2022 - 26 October 2021, Written Question

• Germany is spending €200m on mobile air filters for schools and New York has installed 100,000 air purifiers for classrooms - August 2021, Independent

• Covid: Outdoor lessons idea ‘a total fudge’, DfE told - 12 October 2021, Tes

• According to the most recent set of financial returns, local authority-maintained schools spent a total of £305 million on energy in 2019/20, whilst academies spent a total of £359 million - GOV.UK

• Energy costs: Given their increased size and number of pupils, local authority-maintained secondary schools spent more in total. Department for Education figures confirm that back in 2016/17, the average secondary school spent around £90,000 on energy per year - January 2019, GOV.UK
  
  
• The recently announced rise in the energy price cap is estimated to lead to a 12% rise in energy prices - 1 October, BBC News

• Assuming a 12% rise is applied across the board, local authority schools will face an additional cost of £36.6 million whilst academies will face an additional cost of £43 million, amounting to a total expenditure increase of up to £80 million: