Sheffield Labour politicians outline criteria they want met to support schools reopening

Under current Government plans, schools could reopen for some year groups on June 1. However, opposition politicians, unions and some councils have criticised the plans as ‘unsafe’.

The city’s MPs – Clive Betts, Olivia Blake, Paul Blomfield, Gill Furniss and Louise Haigh – previously outlined their opposition to the reopening unless reopening unless “safety can be guaranteed”.

Now, together with Councillor Abtisam Mohamed, Sheffield Council’s cabinet member for education and skills, they have outlined a set of criteria which they say must be met before they can feel confident enough to tell parents and staff it is safe to reopen the city’s schools.

In a statement, they called for “an effective and comprehensive test, track and isolate system” to be in place, as well as testing data to be shared with Sheffield Council. They also want the Government to publish the evidence on which it based its decision to reopen schools.

They said: “As Labour politicians in Sheffield we are united in wanting to get children back to school as quickly as possible but only when it is safe to do so. We know how worried parents, teachers, school support staff and pupils themselves are at this difficult time.

“The Government has failed to test and trace effectively for over 10 weeks now and this is an essential element of entering the next phase of the lockdown. So, it is significant that the Government’s Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser has made an important intervention to highlight the need for ‘a highly effective track, trace and isolate system’ in place before schools open.

“We agree with the LGA [Local Government Association] that ‘Councils also need crucial testing data to be shared with them, to help enable greater confidence for staff and parents around school openings, and powers to manage outbreaks in places like schools, care homes, businesses and communities if new COVID-19 clusters emerge’.

The statement continued: “Furthermore, we call on the Government to publish the evidence it has received on which it has based its decision on to open schools on a wider basis from 1st June, especially as the Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser, again, has confirmed that changes to social distancing measures must be based on ‘observed levels of incidence in places that there’s going to be change, not on a fixed date.’

“We must see updated guidance to protect vulnerable teaching staff who are not currently covered by the Government’s strategy and we will continue to pay the closest regard to the advice of our Director of Public Health. Our job, first and foremost, is to protect the people of Sheffield and we stand together as MPs and Councillors in doing that.”

The council's Director of Public Health Greg Fell this week said the Government's ‘track and trace’ system should be working “before we start to fundamentally re-open society.”

The Prime Minister today said England will have a "world-beating" tracing system from June 1.