Pressure builds for yet another U-turn on masks
SENIOR SCHOOLS DEFY No 10 ON FACE MASKS
EDUCATION Secretary Gavin Williamson was battling to avert yet another forced U-turn today as the Government’s new policy on face masks failed to satisfy all school leaders.
One Tory MP called the new policy a “corridor gesture” while Labour said it was half-baked. Some Conservative MPs were furious at the lack of grip six days before the start of term.
Tory MP Huw Merriman said he was “sick and tired” of the way young people are being treated. He told the BBC: “We need to send a message out that schools are a safe setting.”
Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP who chairs the Education Select Committee, called for “100 per cent clarity and consistency” in the Government’s message. He advised ministers to deploy Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty to explain the rules to parents.
The new rules were rushed out last night, hours after the Scottish government and some English schools ignored the Government’s previous advice that masks were not necessary in schools.
It now compulsory for pupils in lockdown areas — where transmission of coronavirus is high — to wear masks in confined spaces at school, such as corridors and communal areas, where social distancing is compromised. By contrast, in Scotland all pupils will wear face coverings when using shared areas and walking between classrooms. Some schools in England promptly changed their rules after the U-turn to announce that pupils must bring in masks.
The 52 schools in London-based Oasis group are expected to go ahead with plans to issue masks to all pupils in their secondary schools, colour coded for year groups.
In morning media interviews, Mr Williamson appeared to struggle to explain the scientific basis for the Government’s compromise position, which was published hours after Business Secretary Alok Sharma said there was no need for a change. Mr Williamson ruled out copying Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon by making face masks mandatory in all schools. “No, no, there’s no intention of extending it beyond that because as both (Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer) and (schools minister Nick Gibb) said that actually isn’t what is required.”
Mr Halfon said the Government now needed to draft in Professor Whitty. “What the Chief Medical Officer should do, as he did on Sunday when he spelled out the importance of schools going back, is put out a letter to explain in plain terms parents can understand.”
Geoff Barton, head of the school leaders’ union, on BBC Breakfast, welcomed “a good and rather grown-up bit of policy-making”, saying it would “largely, not entirely, be welcomed by headteachers”.