(Harlow) (Con)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for
educational settings including early years, schools, colleges and
universities to be classified as essential infrastructure and
remain open to all students during public health and other
national emergencies; and for connected purposes.
Between the start of the pandemic and July 2021, British children
were out of their classrooms for almost half of the available
school days as a result of nationwide shutdowns and isolations.
The majority of the country’s universities switched to remote
learning, with many students still not having returned to full
face-to-face teaching. Those closures wielded a hammer blow to
our children’s and young people’s education and wellbeing. The
mechanisms this Bill will put in place will safeguard the
education, mental health and life chances of those already
hardest hit and of future generations.
Let me take a moment to give special thanks to the teachers and
support staff who did all they could to keep children learning
over the past 18 months. I especially welcome the support for the
Bill of Children’s Commissioners past and present, of two former
Children’s Ministers and significantly, of the parents group,
UsforThem, which has campaigned day and night to keep schools
fully open and our children learning in the classroom as they
should be.
It is beyond doubt that for those who engaged in online learning,
less material was covered than would have been covered in the
classroom. Moreover, many children could not participate in
online learning at all. School closures and the move to online
learning increased the existing inequalities between those from
disadvantaged backgrounds and their better-off peers. The facts
speak for themselves and testify to what parents know
instinctively. A tablet is no substitute for in-person schooling
and the inspiration and guidance that teachers and support staff
provide. A laptop cannot replace the enriching, nurturing and
skills-building environment that the school community gives to
our children, enabling them to thrive and develop to reach their
potential. A screen cannot replace the social interaction and
friendships that are the essential building blocks of childhood.
Perhaps worst of all, school closures increased the existing
inequalities between those from disadvantaged backgrounds and
their better-off peers. We must face and address head on the
brutal reality that school closures have been a national disaster
for our children.
Over the last 18 months, the four horsemen of the education
apocalypse have galloped towards our young people, threatening
their futures and holding them back from climbing the ladder of
opportunity. The negative impacts of the pandemic are stark.
School closures have contributed to a widening attainment gap and
worsening mental health, not to mention numerous safeguarding
hazards and diminished life chances. Even prior to the pandemic,
disadvantaged pupils were already 18 months of learning behind
their better-off peers by the time they took their GCSEs.
The pandemic has turned the attainment gap into a chasm, undoing
the significant amount of progress made over this last
decade.
Recent research published by the Education Policy Institute has
shown that at national level the average learning losses for
primary school pupils were 3.4 months in maths and 2.2 months in
reading. For disadvantaged pupils, learning loss was even
greater, with 4.2 months lost in maths and 2.7 months in reading.
A tsunami of mental health problems now threatens to overwhelm
our young people. One in six children now has a probable mental
health disorder, up from one in nine in 2017. The Department for
Education itself has concluded that the evidence for the impacts
of school closures on mental health and wellbeing is
“substantial” and “consistent”.
Schools and educational settings play a vital role in
safeguarding our young people from harm. Without that safety net,
too many vulnerable youngsters have slipped through the cracks.
Devastating figures from the Centre for Social Justice show that
100,000 children have failed to return to school, for the most
part, since schools reopened. During the first lockdown, 94% of
vulnerable children were not in school. A significant increase in
social service referrals, domestic abuse and child safeguarding
concerns has been reported between April 2020 and March 2021,
which the directors of children’s services across the country
have linked to the pandemic restrictions and the closure of
childcare settings.
It is estimated that school closures will cost our young people
between £78 billion and £154 billion in lost earnings over the
course of their lifetimes, and those figures are for an
optimistic scenario. In the worst case, as much as £463 billion
could be lost. Report after report speaks to these harms, but
they were not an unfortunate inevitability of an international
public health emergency. Our children have missed more than
double the amount of school as children in other countries,
including France, Spain, Austria and Lithuania. British children
have missed more school than any other country in Europe except
Italy.
I come to my Schools and Educational Settings (Essential
Infrastructure and Opening During Emergencies) Bill. Currently,
the term “essential infrastructure” is used in our legislation to
describe the facilities and systems necessary for a country to
function, and upon which our daily lives depend. It would be
inconceivable to close power stations, hospitals or food
retailers during a time of crisis, and rightly so—they are
lifelines to our communities. The educational devastation of the
last 18 months has made it abundantly clear that for children,
families and society, schools must also be seen as lifelines. In
guidance issued in 2020, the Government defined educational
institutions as “essential infrastructure” along with providers
of power, healthcare and water. But despite this nominal
definition, during the first and third lockdowns schools were
closed to most pupils while other essential infrastructure
remained open.
It is our duty now to treat our schools as essential
infrastructure, both in word, and more importantly, in deed. To
that end, this Bill will recognise and define educational
settings as essential infrastructure in practice by enshrining in
statute that we must never close our schools again, save in the
most dire and exceptional circumstances. Furthermore, the Bill
will put in place a triple lock of protections. This will mean
that before any national or regional closure, the advice of the
Children’s Commissioner must first be sought on whether such a
closure is necessary, and laid before Parliament. We rightly
follow the science and advice of the Scientific Advisory Group
for Emergencies and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and
Immunisation when it comes to our health, so it is only logical
that we must also follow the advice provided by those with the
best interests of our children at the heart of their mandate.
Secondly, any proposed school closure must be debated and
approved by the House. Thirdly, in the event of an agreed
closure, every three weeks that schools remain closed, the
Education Secretary must return to Parliament, having sought the
advice of the Children’s Commissioner, to seek its re-approval
for a continued closure.
This triple lock will ensure that the needs and rights of
children and young people are considered and upheld. It will mean
that the relevant experts are consulted and their advice acted
upon. It will ensure that this House is fully involved and
accountable for any decisions to close schools and disrupt
schooling. Lastly, it will make certain that any disruption will
be tightly time-limited. These measures are no less than our
children deserve. Diogenes once said that
“the foundation of every state is the education of its
youth”.
We must learn from our experiences over the course of the
pandemic to ensure that we prioritise children’s education. We
owe it to our young people to safeguard the educational futures
that covid-19 put on hold. Anything less would be a dereliction
of duty.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That , , , , , , , , , , and present the Bill.
accordingly presented the
Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 4
February 2022, and to be printed (Bill 184).
