Face coverings in schools

Information requested

1. The exact Criteria eg Covid Cases, hospitalisation, rates, rates of vaccination that need to be met before children will no longer be told by the Scottish Government to wear face masks on school grounds (including any classroom, corridors and communal area)
2. Copies of ALL correspondence between the EIS union and the Scottish Government where the continuation of the requirement of facemasks within any area of the school is discussed. This should cover the time period from 5th January 2022 till 30th March 2022 inclusive.
3. The exact evidence the Scottish Government is using to justify that children wearing face masks in school whether that be classrooms or communal areas is adding any benefit or stopping spread of virus.

Response

A copy of most of the information you requested is attached.

Some of the information you have requested is published so I enclose the relevant websites. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact us again and we will send you a paper copy.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

Points 1, 3 and 4.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reason is that decisions on mitigation  within secondary school settings are not linked to specific criteria, but are made considering a wide range of evidence including clinical and public health evidence relating to vaccine efficacy, potential health harms, harms caused by public interventions, case numbers and views on risks.

The Covid-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues have consistently advised that mitigations should remain in place for no longer than is necessary and proportionate to ensure safety, based on the state of the epidemic and the latest evidence. The minutes of their meetings and their published advice is available here although I have highlighted some specific Minutes and advice below, which I hope will be helpful.

The minutes of the sub-group meeting on 24 August, and in the sub-group’s advice on the return to school in August 2021 which notes:
“Subject to review of the data and evidence in September to assess any impact of the change in [isolation] policy on prevalence, serious illness and hospitalisation, schools should then move to a position where the baseline mitigations set out below are in place to reduce the risk of transmission and stop the virus resurging. All other (non-baseline) mitigations should be removed.”

The minute of the sub-group meeting on 8 February 2022 regarding the relaxation of mitigations, including the removal of the requirement to wear face coverings in secondary classrooms, which notes:
“The sub-group considered their advice on mitigations in schools, including whether it remained appropriate and proportionate to retain the requirement for face coverings to be worn in classrooms by secondary age pupils. A series of key factors were highlighted which demonstrated that it was the right time to relax advice on some mitigations, including that: case rates were falling for secondary-aged young people; hospitalisation rates were falling across all age categories; and the estimated R rate was below 1 and decreasing.” 

It may also be worth noting the sub-group’s advice note on face coverings from October 2021 and the minutes of their meetings on 5 and 19 October which link to this. More recently, the minute of their meeting on 8 March 2022 is also helpful, where the sub-group discussed the possible relaxation of some mitigations, including face coverings in communal areas.

The links below may also be of interest:

Minutes of meetings of the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group
https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-education-recovery-group-minutes-3-june-2021/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-education-recovery-group-minutes-10-june-2021/
https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-education-recovery-group-minutes-1-july-2021/

Minutes of meetings of the COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues
Coronavirus (COVID 19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues minutes: 18
May 2021 - gov.scot 
Coronavirus (COVID 19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues minutes: 1
June 2021 - gov.scot
Coronavirus (COVID 19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues minutes: 29
June 2021 - gov.scot 
Coronavirus (COVID 19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues minutes: 13
July 2021 - gov.scot
Coronavirus (COVID 19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues minutes: 27
July 2021 - gov.scot 
Coronavirus (COVID 19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues minutes: 24
August 2021 - gov.scot 
Coronavirus (COVID 19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues minutes: 21
September 2021 - gov.scot 
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children's Issues minutes - 25
January 2022 - gov.scot 
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children's Issues minutes: 8
March 2022 - gov.scot 

On 21 June 2021, the Scottish Government published Working Paper: Covid-19 Mitigation Measures Among Children and Young People. This paper summarises the available evidence
base around mitigation measures for children and young people, including the use of face coverings. This paper was undertaken in response to World Health Organisation (WHO) advice that countries should monitor the impact of face coverings on young people, looking at their physical and mental health and transmission of COVID-19.

Finally, on this point, I would also draw your attention to the recently-published evidence paper Coronavirus (COVID-19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children's Issues - children, schools, early learning and childcare settings - evidence summary - gov.scot which provides a summary of the latest evidence on the current state of the epidemic, the role of schools in transmission of COVID-19; the health and wider harms to children and young people from COVID-19; and workplace-associated risks to staff from COVID-19. These papers are kept under regular review as new evidence and data emerges.

Point 2.
Annex A sets out correspondence between the Scottish Government and the EIS between 5 January and 30 March 2022, where the continuation of the requirement to wear face coverings in communal areas of schools is discussed.

About FOI

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FOI – 202200291631- Items for release - redacted

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FOI – 202200291631- Items for release - Item 2 EIS to Cabinet Secretary - 14 March 2022

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