Former education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson has admitted significant errors in the Department for Education's handling of Covid school closures. Speaking at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry on Tuesday, he acknowledged the department failed to respond adequately during the early pandemic period.
"I readily accept that there were many mistakes that were made, both pre-pandemic and in those early stages of the pandemic," Sir Gavin told the inquiry. He expressed regret that his department had not been sufficiently prepared for the crisis that unfolded.
Government response criticised
The former Conservative minister said the government failed to properly consider emerging scientific evidence about the pandemic's impact on education. "The weight wasn't put on to that emerging scientific evidence that did clearly prove to be right," he explained.
"And the whole focus and emphasis of the Government wasn't probably sharp enough in terms of dealing with that, and that was the case in my department, which I'm sorry for, because I readily accept that I was secretary of state and it was my responsibility," he added.
Boris Johnson's announcement condemned
Sir Gavin strongly criticised former prime minister Boris Johnson's May 2020 announcement of a phased return to schools. He described the decision as damaging to educational institutions, children and their families.
"I think it was damaging for schools, and I think it was damaging for children and parents, because actually what parents heard was the prime minister saying all your kids are going to be able to go back to primary school before summer," he told the inquiry. He felt the announcement created false expectations among families.
Planning failures defended
The education secretary, who served from July 2019 to September 2021, disagreed with previous criticism from academy trust leader Sir Jon Coles. Last week, Sir Jon had described the DfE's failure to plan for school closures in March 2020 as an "extraordinary dereliction of duty".
Sir Gavin maintained that his department had received clear instructions to keep schools open from central government. He explained that key pandemic decisions were made within Number 10 and the Cabinet Office, limiting individual departments' ability to make independent preparations.
Rapid policy changes
The inquiry heard about a dramatic shift in government policy during a 24-hour period in March 2020. Sir Gavin's written evidence described a "discombobulating 24-hour sea change" from maintaining open schools on 16th March to discussing closures on 17th March, with the announcement following the next day.
The former minister revealed he had asked civil servants to examine potential Covid impacts on education as early as January 2020. However, Number 10 was requesting documents focused on keeping schools open rather than planning for closures.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
