As news of schools returning on 1 June broke, many constituents contacted Barry, worried that schools were returning too soon.

Below is Barry’s statement to constituents:

Dear constituent, 

Thank you for contacting me about the reopening of schools and coronavirus. 

Teachers do a fantastic job in educating our children and young people and have been working throughout this pandemic to support the families they work with. 

We all desperately want schools to reopen for the sake of children’s education and wellbeing. I am however concerned that there are serious problems with the government’s plans that saw pupils return to schools in England from 1 June 2020. 

It is important to get children back in the classroom, but just as important is ensuring the safety of staff, pupils and their families. 

I am aware the National Education Union has provided five sensible tests to enable pupils to return to school in greater numbers and in the safest way possible. These involve lowering infection rates, a realistic plan for social distancing, comprehensive access to testing, a plan for when cases occur, and protection for vulnerable staff. 

On 22 May 2020, the Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies stated that it believes that “decisions on school opening should be guided by evidence of low levels of COVID-19 infections in the community and the ability to rapidly respond to new infections through a local test, track and isolate strategy.” It argued, “There is no clear evidence that these conditions are met. Until they are it is not safe to open schools on June 1.” Throughout this pandemic, the Government have always claimed that they are being ‘guided by the science’. This is just another example of them being economical with the truth. 

It is in the interests of all those who will be affected by the wider opening of schools for the Government to be transparent about the advice on which it is acting and to act upon the concerns raised by parents, school staff and teaching unions. 

I believe the Government must urgently convene a taskforce of education unions, parents organisations and health experts to agree upon a series of practical safety conditions that must be met within schools before the Government confirms a date for wider reopening and to confirm that test, track and trace will be fully operational. 

Thank you once again for contacting me about this important issue. I can assure you that I will continue to push the Government to reopen schools only when it is safe to do so. 

Yours sincerely, 

Barry Gardiner 

Member of Parliament for Brent North