Select committee: Public Services Committee
Recommendation 8
1st Report - A critical juncture for public services: lessons from COVID-19
Published 13 Nov 2020
Paragraph 50
Public Services Committee Public services: lessons from coronavirus All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
There is a serious risk that disadvantaged children will fall further behind as a result of school closures during the pandemic. The Government should set out how it will support early intervention in education services to close the attainment gap, reduce exclusions and ensure that disadvantaged children’s education will not suffer adverse long-term effects from the first lockdown. The Government should consult with Ofsted and the Children’s Commissioner on how to hold schools to account and measure progress made in supporting disadvantaged children to catch up.
From: Public Services Committee, 1st Report - A critical juncture for public services: lessons from COVID-19, paragraph 50, 13 November 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 February 2021 (deadline 13 January 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out existing programmes and funding across health, education, children's services, social care and data-sharing, and gives dated commitments on only some recommendations, with others deferred 'in due course' or to a later decision.
- On the Outsourcing Playbook, the Cabinet Office "agrees with the Committee’s recommendation" and plans to launch the updated version in 2021.
- On adult social care reform, the government says it "will bring forward proposals this year", and notes that "a range of options are being considered".
- On the Prevention Green Paper and the successor to Public Health England, the government will "update on the response to the Prevention Green Paper in due course", and the National Institute for Health Protection's accountability arrangements will be published when it is formally established in Spring 2021.
- On the recommendations for a cross-agency strategy for vulnerable children, the government "notes the Committee’s comments" on the Troubled Families Programme and says it is "committed to extending it", with up to £165 million in 2021-22.