Former Education Secretary Sir Gavin Williamson has acknowledged multiple errors in the UK government's handling of school closures during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking at the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, Williamson expressed regret over the Department for Education's lack of preparation and insufficient attention to scientific evidence available as early as February 2020, which indicated that closing schools could delay or lessen the peak of the pandemic.

Williamson admitted that the government’s initial strategy focused heavily on keeping schools open, a stance he now regards as a misjudgment. He revealed that a plan for closing schools was only hastily formulated overnight on 17 March 2020, with the public announcement coming the following day. Reflecting on this delay, he said, “I regret that and wish we had very much done it differently,” acknowledging that more decisive action should have been taken sooner.

He also highlighted the limitations placed on departmental autonomy during the crisis, noting that decisions of such magnitude were tightly controlled by central government. “You don't have quite the freedom just to go and start going out and consulting with lots of people,” Williamson said, underscoring the centralised nature of the pandemic response.

In addition to the timing of school closures, Williamson criticised the subsequent phased reopening of schools announced in May 2020, calling it damaging to schools, children, and families. This approach, he admitted, reflected a lack of sharpness in the government's focus on dealing with the pandemic’s challenges within the education sector.

Williamson has taken responsibility for these shortcomings, acknowledging that the Department for Education did not give emerging scientific insights adequate weight at the critical moment when swift decisions were required. His reflections form part of a broader set of inquiries into the UK's pandemic response, which have scrutinised governmental actions and their impacts on public health and education.

Earlier in the pandemic, Williamson defended school closures as necessary to prevent overwhelming the National Health Service, emphasising that the decision to close schools during the national lockdown in January 2021 was not taken lightly. He reassured that schools were not intrinsically unsafe but restricting attendance was needed to curb rising case numbers, alongside plans for testing to enable reopening as soon as possible.

Overall, Williamson’s testimony reveals the complex and pressured environment in which decisions were made, highlighting regrets over missed opportunities to act earlier and more decisively on scientific advice, amid a pandemic that required unprecedented coordination and responsiveness from government departments.

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Source: Noah Wire Services