COVID-19 in Newport East

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 24 November 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:35, 24 November 2020

Well, Llywydd, I think the guidance on mask wearing in schools has been strengthened just in the last week, and the Minister for Education provided more direction to schools, particularly secondary schools, as to how masks can be worn in corridors and in other crowded settings. But I share a lot of the concerns of the Member's question—that different decisions are being made in different parts of Wales, despite the strengthened assistance that the Welsh Government has mobilised so that headteachers and others can have advice directly from public health expertise in reaching the very difficult and challenging decisions that they make; I don't minimise the challenge that schools face.

There is a correlation between the extent to which coronavirus is in circulation in any community and the impact on schools, and that helps to explain some of the difference, but it doesn't, in my mind, explain it all. I am very keen that schools make every effort both in the way they organise themselves internally and in the decisions that they make to put a priority on keeping as many young people in schools as it is safe to do. Because otherwise, as John Griffiths said in his question, their education suffers, and those who need that assistance the most, miss it the most when it's not available to them.