Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 09 December 2020
That is because lateral flow tests cannot be administered without clinical supervision, which means that we would have to put such supervision into every single school in the country, as well as ensure that we had sufficient lateral flow devices.
We have allocated supplies to students to address directly the issues that arose from the spread of the virus, and we have put in place clinical supervision for use of the lateral flow devices. That is the fundamental difference. That has been done in 19 institutions in the country. I note, for Mr Greene’s benefit, that we have 2,500 schools in the country, so putting such provision in place in schools would be a substantially different proposition.
I turn to exams. Ross Greer made the point that exams are potentially being replaced by de facto exams—prelims. I completely debunk that point of view; that is not what is in the guidance that has been set out. I do not believe that it is necessary for young people to sit a mid-term exam to replace the end-of-year exam. That is not what the change is about. It is about holistic assessment and relying on the judgment of teachers to enable—as Elaine Smith correctly highlighted—the taking into account of the personal experiences of individual young people and their access to education.
Alison Harris raised a concern about the mental health of young people in our schools. I am concerned about that, too, but I do not believe that the solution is to put young people, with all the worries that they have just now, in the position of having to wait for an end-of-year exam when we can instead support them to develop their learning during the year to ensure that they have command of the curriculum and can be entitled to awards.
If Alison Harris thinks that young people’s mental health would, in the current circumstances, be better served by having them wait for one afternoon in May as the opportunity for them to be supported, I disagree with that view. The Parliament is entitled to hear honest disagreement between its members; members are hearing such disagreement with that suggestion now from the education secretary.
I come to the question of the timing of exam decisions. There has been some criticism of the timing of my decision yesterday. However, I point out that various members—on the Conservative side of the chamber, in particular—have argued vociferously that I should not take any premature decisions—[Interruption.] I appreciate that that does not apply to members on all sides of the chamber; nevertheless, members have argued against my taking premature decisions.
We now find ourselves in a situation in which, when I take a decision, it is judged to be a delayed decision by the self-same members who previously argued that to make such a decision would be premature. That stinks of total and utter rank hypocrisy, of which we have heard a lot this afternoon. [Interruption.]
My final point relates to the practical contents of the motion. There are two provisions in particular that I entirely support. One is expansion of the number of teachers—which we have done. The other is expansion of provision of free school meals, which we have done and continue to do. We did not need to be shamed into action by successful footballers, because we had already decided to enable that provision.
The Parliament must consider how all the measures in the motion would be implemented in practice. It must be careful about the motions that it passes, because it must be able to put in place the financial and operational support to ensure that the measures can be delivered.
16:24