Parents could be fined as a “last resort” if they refuse to send their children back to school, an education minister has warned.
Nick Gibb said teachers should try to “reassure” parents of the need to send their children back to school but said there was a “moral imperative” to do so.
Asked whether fines were a possibility for parents who continued to resist, he told the BBC: “Fines are something that headteachers are very reluctant to use, they only use them as a last resort.”
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Mr Gibb said that “where there are families that have particular concerns they should discuss them with the headteachers”.
When it was suggested that such discussions could still result in parents not being reassured, the minister said this did not change the fact that children would have to attend school.
He added: “It is important, it is a moral imperative that young people are back in schools.”
In June, education secretary Gavin Williamson specifically warned that fines were an option, stating: “Unless there’s a good reason for absence… we’d be imposing fines on families.”
“We do have to get back into compulsory education and obviously fines sit alongside as part of that,” he said.
Under the government’s school absence fines system, councils can issue parents with a fixed penalty notice of £60, which rises to £120 if it isn’t paid within 21 days.
If this on-the-spot fine isn’t paid within 28 days parents be prosecuted and face a further fine of £2,500 and even a prison sentence of three months, plus a parenting order.
Schools minister Nick Gibb (BBC Breakfast)
A Downing Street spokesman said the government was encouraging any parents with concerns about the return to school to speak with their children’s headteachers, but stressed that fines for missing classes remain “a last resort”.
The spokesman said the prime minister had been clear there was a “moral responsibility” to ensure children get an education, and signalled that Boris Johnson would not favour a rota system with different pupils coming in on different days of the week.
Asked whether such a system would be acceptable, the spokesman replied: “We have been clear about what we want to see next week. Obviously, it is up to schools to ensure they can accept children back into school safely. That’s why we have been working with them throughout the pandemic to ensure they can return safely next week.”
The spokesman indicated that schools could be forced to close their doors again in the event of new local lockdowns in response to spikes in numbers of Covid cases.
“Obviously we would need to look at the local area and it would be done on a case by case basis,” he said.
“We’ve been clear about any suspected cases and how we would deal with them and if there was a case where… children weren’t able to go to school, we’ve been clear we expect the school to provide remote education.”
The spokesman said that official guidance does not recommend that teachers wear face coverings during lessons, noting that this can “obstruct communication between teachers and pupils”.
And he cautioned that parents meeting at the school gates remain subject to the same social distancing rules as anyone else, which bar them from going for a coffee inside a cafe with members of more than one other household or gathering outside with more than six people.
Classes are set to return in September after a long hiatus due to the coronavirus outbreak. Mr Johnson said overnight that it was “vitally important” for pupils to return and that the life chances of a generation were at stake.
The prime minister argued that “it is far more damaging for a child’s development and their health… to be away from school any longer”.
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47/50 8 July 2020Players take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on the first day of the first Test cricket match between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton
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PA
2/50 22 AugustEngland’s Zak Crawley hit 267, joining the exclusive Double Hundred club, on day two of the Third Test match against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton
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4/50 20 AugustParents and a student react after checking GCSE results at Ark Academy in London
Reuters
5/50 19 AugustTate Modern workers hold a strike outside the gallery in London, to protest the institution’s announcement that it would cut more than 300 jobs from its commercial arm, Tate Enterprises
PA
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PA
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PA
9/50 15 AugustPiper Colour Sergeant Lil Bahadur Gurung attends the VJ Day National Remembrance event, held at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, Britain
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AFP via Getty
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13/50 11 August 2020A woman hydrates in the sun after open water swimming at the West Reservoir Centre in north London
Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty
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Reuters
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EPA
16/50 8 August 2020Healthcare workers take part in a protest in London over pay conditions in the NHS
Getty
17/50 7 August 2020Emergency services make their way along the seafront on Bournemouth beach in Dorset on one of the hottest days of the year
PA
18/50 6 August 2020Alison Murphy poses for a picture by husband Peter as she walks through a field of sunflowers in Altrincham, Cheshire
PA
19/50 5 August 2020Pakistan’s Abid Ali being bowled by England’s Jofra Archer during day one of the First Test match at the Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester
PA
20/50 4 August 2020The ‘Timbuktu tumblers’ from Kenya perform their balancing act on the Southsea waterfront as Zippos Circus reopens in Portsmouth
Rex
21/50 3 August 2020Pelicans interact with a visitor in St James’s Park in London
PA
22/50 2 August 2020Lewis Hamilton drives with a puncture towards the finish line to win the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone
POOL/AFP via Getty
23/50 1 August 2020Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the FA Cup, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease
Pool via Reuters
24/50 31 July 2020People enjoy the sunny weather at a Bournemouth Beach
Reuters
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PA
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PA
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Getty/ECB
28/50 27 July 2020Demonstrators protest outside the Tate Modern in London over proposed job losses in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown. The group believe that the emergency money provided by the government to culture-based organisations should be used to retain all jobs and that any other use of the funding is unfair. The gallery on London’s South Bank, as well as the Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives, reopened today after closing in March due to lockdown measures meant to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus
Getty
29/50 26 July 2020Harry Maguire shakes hands with Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers after Manchester United beat the Foxes. The win meant they finished third in the Premier League and Leicester finished outside a Champions League place in fourth
Pool via Reuters
30/50 25 July 2020Women exercise using pool noodles during an aqua fit class at a gym in Sunbury-on-Thames after gyms and swimming pools were allowed to reopen
AFP via Getty
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PA
32/50 23 July 2020A customer has her hair cut outside at Blade Hairdressers in Soho in London
Getty
33/50 22 July 2020Liverpool’s English midfielder Jordan Henderson lifts the Premier League trophy during the presentation following the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield in Liverpool. Liverpool on Wednesday lifted the Premier League trophy at the famous Kop stand at Anfield after their final home game of the season
AFP via Getty
34/50 21 July 2020Vivienne Westwood demonstrates outside the Old Bailey in support of Julian Assange in London
Reuters
35/50 20 July 2020Comet Neowise in the skies over the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire
PA
36/50 19 July 2020Mods and rockers unite on Madeira Drive, Brighton, for a demonstration to call for the reopening of the road which Brighton & Hove City Council plans to keep closed permanently
PA
37/50 18 July 2020People enjoy the sunny weather at Painshill, an 18th century landscape garden in Cobham, Surrey
PA
38/50 17 July 2020Captain Sir Thomas Moore receives his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle
AP
39/50 16 July 2020Red Arrows do a flypast during the Graduation Ceremony of the Queen’s Squadron at RAF College Cranwell, Lincolnshire
The Daily Telegraph/PA
40/50 15 July 2020Jen Reid poses in front of a black resin and steel statue titled ‘A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020’, which is based on her by Marc Quinn, where it has been installed on the vacant Edward Colston plinth in Bristol city centre. The original statue was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour during Black Lives Matter protests
PA
41/50 14 July 2020Fields of echium and borage in full flower near the town of Thaxted in Essex
PA
42/50 13 July 2020People ride a rollercoaster in a theme park next to Southend pier. Many businesses in tourism and hospitality have been able to reopen after some lockdown measures were eased
Getty
43/50 12 July 2020West Indies’s John Campbell and Jason Holder celebrate winning the test as England’s Rory Burns and teammates look on dejected
Reuters
44/50 11 July 2020Chicldren play in the water during a cricket match between Abinger and Worplesdon & Nurpham in Abinger Hammer, Surrey
Reuters
45/50 10 July 2020People gather for the funeral of Dame Vera Lynn in Ditchling, England. During World War II she travelled to the frontlines, including Burma, entertaining British troops and boosting morale. She died on 18 June at her home in West Sussex
Getty
46/50 9 July 2020Artist Anish Kapoor looks into his sculpture ‘Sky Mirror’ at Houghton Hall, King’s Lynn, ahead of the opening of his largest UK exhibition of outdoor sculptures
PA
47/50 8 July 2020Players take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on the first day of the first Test cricket match between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton
AFP via Getty
48/50 7 July 2020A circus performer from the Association of Circus Proprietors in Whitehall, London. The association handed a petition to Downing Street to ask Prime Minister Boris Johnson to allow circuses to reopen
EPA
49/50 6 July 2020Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, which re-opened to the public after being closed due to the coronavirus lockdown
PA
50/50 5 July 2020People visit Columbia Road Flower Market, London, as it reopens following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions across England
PA
Schools in Northern Ireland are returning Monday, while some schools in Scotland have already gone back. The term in England and Wales starts in September.
Over the weekend chief medical officer Chris Whitty said that “the chances of children dying from Covid-19 are incredibly small” and that “many more are likely to be harmed by not going than harmed by going”.
Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk