Question reference: S5W-34539
- Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 12 January 2021
-
Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 January 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the risk that the COVID-19 pandemic brings to (a) staff and (b) children at (i) nursery schools and (ii) other early years settings.
Answer
The Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues considered the risks of a return to education across all stages, in the context of the Variant of Concern 202012/01, in an extraordinary meeting held on 31 December. The advice from the sub-group was that schools and early learning and childcare settings should remain closed to all but the children of key workers and other priority groups beyond 18 January on a precautionary basis, and that there should be a fortnightly review of that decision.
The review of risk to early learning and childcare staff and children will take a 'four harms' approach to help ensure that the transmission risk is taken into account while the impacts on the other harms are kept to a minimum. The three other harms are: the wider impact that the virus is having on health and social care services; how the restrictions are impacting on our broader way of living and society (including the negative effects on child development and inequality); and the effect of the restrictions on our economy (including the ability of parents to work and the sustainability of childcare businesses).