Coronavirus: DfE had 'no plan', MPs' report finds

Children who were already facing adversity were particularly affected. It reports that referrals to children’s social care services fell by 15 per cent and remain 10 per cent lower year-on-year, raising concerns about ongoing ‘hidden harm’ to children.

Despite being involved in a 2016 cross-Government exercise on dealing with a pandemic, the report found the DfE was not prepared. Furthermore, it has still not properly assessed its early response in order to learn lessons for the future.

When schools were closed to most pupils in March 2020 the DfE is said to have ‘set no standards for in-school or remote learning during the rest of the school year’ meaning ‘children had very unequal experiences’.

The disruption to schooling had particularly damaging effects on children who were already facing adversity. Although they could continue attending, the proportion of vulnerable children who went to school or college remained below 11 per cent until late May 2020. Numbers only ever reached an average 26 per cent by the end of the summer term. 

Disadvantaged children also faced major barriers to effective home learning, widening the gap between them and their peers. Plus the report found evidence that the targeted elements of DfE’s catch-up programme to make up for lost learning may not be reaching the most disadvantaged children.

The report states that the DfE has ‘worthy aspirations but little specific detail’ about how it will ‘build the school system back better’, including how it will secure value for money from the £400 million it has spent on IT equipment, and the £1.7 billion it has committed to the catch-up programme.

Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said, ‘The pandemic has further exposed a very ugly truth about the children living in poverty and disadvantage who have been hit particularly hard during the pandemic.

‘Online learning was inaccessible to many children even in later lockdowns and there is no commitment to ongoing additional funding for IT. Schools will be expected to fund laptops out of their existing, and already squeezed, budgets.

‘The committee was concerned that DfE appears uninterested in learning lessons from earlier in the pandemic, preferring to wait until the public enquiry which won’t report for years. It shows little energy and determination to ensure that its “catch-up” offer is sufficient to undo the damage of the past 14 months.’

Recommendations from the report include that the DfE should:

• carry out a systematic lessons-learned exercise, to evaluate its response to the pandemic and identify departmental-specific lessons.
• work with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services to understand why the number of referrals to children’s social care services remains below expected levels, and take action in light of the findings to make sure children are being effectively safeguarded. 
• work with the Department of Health and Social Care to identify the specific actions needed to help children with SEND recover from the damage caused during the pandemic.

Responding to the report, a DfE spokesperson said, ‘Throughout the pandemic we have acted swiftly at every turn to help minimise the impact on pupils’ education and provide extensive support for schools, colleges and early years settings.

‘The Department has updated and strengthened its remote education expectations as best practice has developed and schools’ capabilities have increased.

‘We have invested over £2 billion into schemes to provide pupils with devices for remote education and ambitious catch-up plans – with funding targeted at disadvantaged children and young people who need support the most.’

The spokesperson added that the Government has always been clear that there would be opportunities to look back and reflect on lessons learnt from its response to the ‘unprecedented global challenge’. A full public inquiry will begin in spring 2022.

Chief executive of the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) Carole Willis commented that the Government has recognised the importance of supporting education following such a major period of disruption. She said their actions going forward will need to match the scale of the need.

‘NFER’s early research into the impact of Covid-19 on education showed that, despite the introduction of remote education, teachers estimated that their pupils missed significant learning,’ she said.

‘NFER’s more recent studies have demonstrated that for year two pupils, the scale of that missed learning is an average of two months progress, whilst the disadvantage gap in reading and maths is at seven months.                                                          

‘We will continue our rigorous research into the impact of Covid-19 on education and the impact of potential measures to enable children to recover. This will assist decision-makers in developing policy to achieve the best possible outcomes for children and young people who have been affected by the pandemic.’

Commenting on the report, Councillor Anntoinette Bramble, chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said, ‘Councils and schools want to work with the Government on education recovery and to ensure that no child is left behind. We share concerns about the needs of disadvantaged children who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

‘Schools are the second highest source of referrals to children’s social care. With many children having been out of sight of support services for significant periods during the pandemic, teachers and school staff must be given the time to build good relationships with children and to carry out their safeguarding duties, alongside a focus on lost education.’

She added, ‘We hope to see the detail behind the Government’s education recovery plan as soon as possible. It is vital that all children who need support get it when they need it. With the right funding, councils can ensure services are in place to support families, to help stop problems from escalating and to identify situations where children may be at risk, including those arising from hidden harms.’