Research suggests year 10 pupils have already missed one in eight days of face-to-face GCSE or BTEC teaching.

On Tuesday, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza launched a once-in-a-generation review of the future of childhood. “The Childhood Commission” will identify the barriers preventing children from reaching their full potential, propose policy and service solutions and develop targets by which improvements can be monitored.

The National Audit Office published a report on DfE’s reaction to COVID-19 between March and July 2020. The NAO found the DfE to be reactive with no plan to deal with widescale disruption. The report also suggests the Department could have done more to combat learning loss.

The government has published several pieces of research that will inform the development of adult skills and retraining policy, including the National Skills Fund. They include lessons learned from the National Retraining Scheme pilots.