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UK coronavirus live: £1bn tutoring fund to help England’s students catch up on learning

PressNewsAgency
By PressNewsAgency










Asked this morning about the government’s abandonment of its own contact tracing app in favour of a design by Apple and Google, schools minister Nick Gibb said that there was no point rolling out a system that then fails.

“We want to have ambitious plans to track and trace, and that’s what the app is about, but it has to be properly tested,” he added.

“There’s no point in rolling out a system that then fails because what you’re asking people to do when they’re contacted by the tracers is to self-isolate and you have to be able to trust the information.”

No mention of the system by a government figure would be the same without that familiar baking mantra and, sure enough, Gibb added: “The app was almost like the cherry on the cake.

“It’s a sort of more sophisticated extra layer on top of the track and trace, but it has to be able to operate properly.”

Work started in March as the pandemic unfolded, but despite weeks of work, officials admitted on Thursday that the NHS app only recognised 4% of Apple phones and 75% of Google Android devices during testing on the Isle of Wight.

That was because the design of Apple’s iPhone operating system is such that apps quickly go to sleep when they are not being used and cannot be activated by Bluetooth – a point raised by experts and reported by the Guardian in early May.










An estimated 4.5 million people – three times the size of the NHS workforce – have been forced to become unpaid carers for sick, older or disabled relatives by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to research.

Charities say the huge increase – a result of support services being withdrawn – has happened behind closed doors.

There were already an estimated 9.1 million unpaid carers before the outbreak. The research comes after it was revealed that more than 100,000 people doing unpaid caring for older, disabled or seriously ill relatives had been
forced to use food banks since start of the pandemic.

The increase, say experts, has profound implications for society. More than 70% of the new, unpaid carers, the majority of whom are women, many already living in poverty, said the responsibility was the source of significant stress and that they were deeply concerned about how they would cope as the lockdown eased.




Carers UK has said it wants to see an urgent rise in carer’s allowance.

Carers UK has said it wants to see an urgent rise in carer’s allowance. Photograph: Jennie Hart/Alamy Stock Photo

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Local authority officials and teachers have been calling this morning for more detail on the government’s £650m tutoring programme.

A bit more has been coming from schools standards minister, Nick Gibb, who said schools in England will be able access the fund “at their discretion” to help children catch up on missed work.

Speaking on Sky News, he added that the government wants to ensure no pupils face any long-term detriment to their education as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said: “Schools have done a brilliant job in providing online lessons for children, providing them work while they’re at home.

“But nothing beats children being back in the classroom in terms of the quality of the education and we want to make sure that no child loses out, or has any long-term detriment to their education as a consequence of this crisis.

“So that’s why we’re allocating this huge sum of money, £650m to schools to use at their discretion, to ensure that every child can catch up over the course of the next academic year.”

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The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has said that the figures confirm the “severe impact” which coronavirus is having on the UK’s public finances.

“The best way to restore our public finances to a more sustainable footing is to safely reopen our economy so people can return to work.”

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Government borrowing to hit £55.2bn – ONS

Government borrowing in May is predicted to have hit £55.2bn – nearly nine-times higher than in the same month a year ago, according to figures released this morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The figure is slightly lower than the £62.1bn of borrowing in April, according to the ONS, although the organisation also revised down that figure by £13.6bn to £48.5bn on Friday.

Debt levels at the end of May were 100.9% of gross domestic product (GDP), the first time that debt as a percentage of GDP has exceeded 100% since the financial year ending March 1963, the ONS added, standing at £1.95 trillion – up £173.2bn in May 2019.

The BBC’s economic’s editor has more:

Faisal Islam
(@faisalislam)

May UK public finances – £55.2 billion borrowed – 9x last year, highest monthly borrowing on record (since 1993)

Public Sector Net Debt is at 100.9% of GDP – first time since the early 1960s

April’s deficit revised down £14bn to £48.5bn pic.twitter.com/j2dxLZxj1o


June 19, 2020

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English schools to get £1bn to help pupils catch up

Richard Adams

Subsidised tutoring being offered through a new government programme from September is likely to cost state schools £12-an-hour in the scheme’s first year, compared with the £50-an-hour usually charged by the private providers involved.

The programme will come via an extra £650m provided to schools in England to help pupils catch up on teaching missed during the coronavirus lockdown since March, as part of a £1bn package.

Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, will announce the funding on Friday, which will also include a separate £350m in subsidies for a one-year national tutoring programme – as revealed by the Guardian – to help the most disadvantaged children in their education by offering low-cost tuition for schools to purchase.

“This package will make sure that every young person, no matter their age or where they live, gets the education, opportunities and outcomes they deserve, by spending it on measures proven to be effective, particularly for those who are most disadvantaged,” Williamson said

“The plan will be delivered throughout the next academic year, bringing long-term reform to the educational sector that will protect a generation of children from the effects of this pandemic.”




Year six pupils in a literacy lesson at Manchester Grammar School being taught in small bubbles in line with the government imposed restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Christopher Thomond for The Guardian.

Year six pupils in a literacy lesson at Manchester Grammar School being taught in small bubbles in line with the government imposed restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Christopher Thomond for The Guardian. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

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Ben Quinn

Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s live blog coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK.

Education and the question of how to get children back to school once again takes centre stage today as the government steps up its efforts to convince the public that it has a plan to get on top of one of the most concerning societal impacts of the lockdownt.

Overnight, the government said it would give an extra £650m to schools in England to help pupils catch up on teaching missed during the coronavirus lockdown since March, as part of a £1bn package.

Meanwhile this morning, the Office for National Statistics is due to release its latest picture of how the British economy has been battered by the pandemic. New borrowing data for last month was also expected to show how the national debt is being loaded up

At noon, a view of the state of public sector finances will be published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). I’ll be covering that along with a range of other developments with colleagues. You can reach me on Twitter at @BenQuinn75.

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