'Epidemic of educational poverty': Warning over hit to poorer pupils from school reopening delays

Education secretary confirms primary schools in England will not be able to welcome all pupils back for a month before the summer

MPs have warned that disadvantaged pupils face an "epidemic of educational poverty" as ministers rowed back on a pledge to give all primary school pupils a month of schooling before the summer.

Robert Halfon, the Tory chairman of the education committee, challenged the government over the devastating impact of lengthy school closures on poorer pupils, who lack access to computers and other support to do their school work at home.

MPs ramped up pressure on Gavin Williamson over the growing gulf between richer and more disadvantaged children, with concern over the failure to extend free school meals over the holidays.

The criticism came as Mr Williamson confirmed in the Commons that primary schools in England will not be able to welcome all pupils back for a month before the summer holidays.

Children in nursery, reception, Year 1 and Year 6 in England began to go back to the classroom last week - but government figures show only 52 per cent of schools had reopened.

The delay to a full return was broadly welcomed by teaching unions, who have warned of capacity issues, staff shortages and problems with enforcing social distancing rules.

But MPs also raised concerns about the impact of a delay to returning to schools on the life chances of the poorest pupils.

Mr Halfon told the Commons: "We know that around 700,000 disadvantaged children are not doing school homework and 700,000 don't have proper access to computers for the internet.

"So, what is the government doing to help these disadvantaged children learn again and avoid an epidemic of educational poverty?"

He called for a catch-up premium for left-behind children - and pleaded with the education secretary to reconsider his refusal to extend free school meals over the summer.

Tory former children's minister Tim Loughton said "the impact on those from the most deprived backgrounds will be considerable" and asked whether summer programmes were being considered.

Mr Williamson replied: "This is certainly what we are looking at but we are looking at something much more wide and much more long term because we don't believe that actually just purely looking at the summer period is enough in order to be able to assist children to get the catch-up that they truly need."

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow education secretary, welcomed the decision to roll-back on reopening schools but expressed "deep dismay" at the government's handling of the situation.

She said children and young people will have been “impacted cruelly by such a long period away from school” and warned of a “deepening education disadvantage gap” which could leave millions of children behind.

“The government needs to face up to the scale of damage this is doing to children and scale up their response," she told MPs.

Ms Long-Bailey also condemned the "deeply callous move" to end the voucher scheme for free school meals over the summer holidays, with 200,000 more children expected to be living below the poverty line by the end of the year due to pandemic-related job losses

Mr Williamson took a swipe at Labour, saying Ms Long-Bailey would only open schools when the National Education Union said that she was allowed to do so.

He also failed to answer questions over whether free school meals would continue over the summer - despite repeated questions from MPs.

Labour's Emma Lewell Buck, who coordinated a letter from more than 50 MPs calling for an extension to free school meals, pressed the minister on where "hungry children" fit into his long-term plans.

Mr Williamson insisted that holiday activities and resources would be part of efforts to help local authorities support children.