Ministers defend keeping ‘low risk’ nurseries open

Earlier this week Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the closure of schools and colleges for most pupils as part of a the new lockdown to curb the spread of a new variant of Covid-19.

• Coronavirus lockdown: Nurseries remain open despite fears over safety

• Analysis: Parent support - lockdown lessons 

However, early years settings are expected to remain open.

Children's minister Vicky Ford said that pre-school-aged children “continue to have the lowest confirmed rates of coronavirus of all age groups and there is no evidence that the new variant of coronavirus disproportionately affects young children”.

She added that “there continues to be strong evidence that children are much less susceptible to severe clinical disease than older people”

Ford has offered the reassurances following a meeting on Tuesday (5 January) with the Early Years Alliance (EYA), which has raised concerns around why providers have been asked to remain open during the latest lockdown.

Further talks are set to take place this week, between early years leaders and members of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).

Ford said the government is to “continue prioritising keeping nurseries and childminders open, supporting parents and delivering the crucial care and education needed for our youngest children”.

She added: “Early years childcare providers were one of the first sectors to have restrictions lifted last summer, in recognition of the key role they play in society.

“Childminders and nursery staff across the country have worked hard to keep settings open through the pandemic so that young children can be educated, and parents can work.

“The earliest years are the most crucial point of child development and attending early education lays the foundation for lifelong learning and supports children’s social and emotional development.

“We continue to prioritise keeping early years settings open in full because of the clear benefits to children’s education and wellbeing and to support working parents. Caring for the youngest age group is not something that can be done remotely.”

Vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi echoed Ford's statement adding that nurseries differed from schools, which were closed because they had been "vectors for the new variant".

EYA chief executive Neil Leitch said: “Many of those working in the early years feel terrified and abandoned by the government.

“They are being asked to remain on the frontline during the most worrying period of a global pandemic with no PPE, no testing and no access to vaccinations.

"Add to this the fact that the government is providing minimal financial support to help providers get through this incredibly difficult period and it's hard to think of many other sectors that have been asked to do so much while being been treated with such disdain.

"The early years cannot be treated as an afterthought. We need protection, we need financial support and we need the appalling treatment of our sector to end once and for all."

Shadow children and early years minister Tulip Siddiq has written to the government asking ministers to “set out clear scientific evidence on safety” childcare providers and their staff.

👇 My letter to the Government about the decision to keep early years settings open in England during lockdown.

Ministers must set out clear scientific evidence on safety and provide much better support for families, nursery staff and all childcare providers. pic.twitter.com/vdlDVXrFvz

— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) January 5, 2021

Greater clarity over the decision to keep nurseries open is also being sought by Hackney Council’s mayor Philip Glanville and cabinet member for families, early years and play Caroline Woodley.

Their letter to Ford and education secretary Gavin Williamson sets out the “importance of engaging with and supporting the early years sector” on the plans to keep nurseries open during the pandemic.

The @mayorofhackney and I have written today to @GavinWilliamson and @vickyford re: importance of engaging with and supporting the early years sector -- in securing safety of staff, children and wider community, and in financially protecting both maintained and PVI settings pic.twitter.com/dBFmeThk1W

— Caroline Woodley (@carowoodley) January 4, 2021