Robin Walker corrected a written answer on Schools: Ventilation

25 January 2022 · Commons written answer · Department for Education

Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat, Twickenham) asked written question 99399 on 7 January 2022. Mr Robin Walker answered on 12 January 2022 for the Department for Education, and Mr Robin Walker corrected the answer on 25 January 2022. The corrected text no longer gives the figures 1,000, 1,500, 353,000, 7,000, £25 million. Altogether 420 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish data gathered from the 350,000 carbon dioxide monitors distributed to schools across England from September 2021.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
~~During the autumn term,~~ the department ~~provided CO₂ monitors to all state-funded education providers. This includes early years, schools, and further education providers, backed~~ by £25 million in government funding. Further information on this can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-schools-to-receive-carbon-dioxide-monitors . The department has now delivered on our public commitment with over 353,000 monitors delivered. The programme provided schools and other settings with sufficient monitors to take representative readings from across their estate. Feedback suggests that schools are finding the monitors helpful to manage ventilation and, in most education providers, existing ventilation measures are sufficient. CO₂ monitors are an additional measure which ~~the department have rolled~~ out to education providers to be used as a guide for where ventilation can be improved. This is not intended to create an additional burden on staff but is an extra tool to support ~~education~~ providers to improve ventilation. It is up to school leaders to decide how to best use them in their specific setting. On 2 January 2022, the department announced that 7000 air cleaning units are now being made available for mainstream state-funded providers, in addition to the 1000 units made available for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) settings that we announced in November. Settings can apply for funded units via an online form. Applications are open until 9am on 17 January. Before applying for a funded air cleaning unit, the following criteria must be met by mainstream education providers, as set out in the ‘How to apply for a Department for Education-funded air cleaning unit' guidance, which is available on the ventilation document sharing platform: Sustained high CO₂ readings: there have been sustained high CO₂ readings (1500ppm or higher) for at least 1 week while the room is occupied, despite taking all measures possible to introduce ventilation. Lengthy remedial works required in order to address poor ventilation, that cannot be completed before the end of February 2022. Suitable space: air cleaning units will be allocated for teaching spaces only. There are different criteria for SEND and AP settings due the higher-than-average number of vulnerable pupils attending those settings. For these education providers, air cleaning units will also be allocated to poorly ventilated staff rooms. The department will prioritise spaces with the poorest ventilation to receive units based on criteria such as CO₂ readings and occupation density. The department has also launched an online marketplace which provides settings with a route to purchasing air cleaning units at a suitable specification and competitive price. Further information is available here: https://s107t01-webapp-v2-01.azurewebsites.net/list/air-cleaning . In the future, the department may review this list and as more products which meet our specification become available, these will be added. All purchases through the marketplace are managed by the supplier, rather than by the department.	The CO2 monitors funded by the department do not automatically report readings, they are read manually by school staff. CO2 monitors are an additional measure which we are rolling out to education providers to be used as a guide for where ventilation can be improved. This is not intended to create an additional burden on staff but is an extra tool to support providers to improve ventilation. It is up to school leaders to decide how to best use them in their specific school, college or nursery.

Original

Corrected

~~During the autumn term,~~ the department ~~provided CO₂ monitors to all state-funded education providers. This includes early years, schools, and further education providers, backed~~ by £25 million in government funding. Further information on this can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-schools-to-receive-carbon-dioxide-monitors .
The department has now delivered on our public commitment with over 353,000 monitors delivered. The programme provided schools and other settings with sufficient monitors to take representative readings from across their estate. Feedback suggests that schools are finding the monitors helpful to manage ventilation and, in most education providers, existing ventilation measures are sufficient.
CO₂ monitors are an additional measure which ~~the department have rolled~~ out to education providers to be used as a guide for where ventilation can be improved. This is not intended to create an additional burden on staff but is an extra tool to support ~~education~~ providers to improve ventilation. It is up to school leaders to decide how to best use them in their specific setting.
On 2 January 2022, the department announced that 7000 air cleaning units are now being made available for mainstream state-funded providers, in addition to the 1000 units made available for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) settings that we announced in November. Settings can apply for funded units via an online form. Applications are open until 9am on 17 January.
Before applying for a funded air cleaning unit, the following criteria must be met by mainstream education providers, as set out in the ‘How to apply for a Department for Education-funded air cleaning unit' guidance, which is available on the ventilation document sharing platform:
Sustained high CO₂ readings: there have been sustained high CO₂ readings (1500ppm or higher) for at least 1 week while the room is occupied, despite taking all measures possible to introduce ventilation.
Lengthy remedial works required in order to address poor ventilation, that cannot be completed before the end of February 2022.
Suitable space: air cleaning units will be allocated for teaching spaces only.
There are different criteria for SEND and AP settings due the higher-than-average number of vulnerable pupils attending those settings. For these education providers, air cleaning units will also be allocated to poorly ventilated staff rooms. The department will prioritise spaces with the poorest ventilation to receive units based on criteria such as CO₂ readings and occupation density.
The department has also launched an online marketplace which provides settings with a route to purchasing air cleaning units at a suitable specification and competitive price. Further information is available here: https://s107t01-webapp-v2-01.azurewebsites.net/list/air-cleaning . In the future, the department may review this list and as more products which meet our specification become available, these will be added. All purchases through the marketplace are managed by the supplier, rather than by the department.

The CO2 monitors funded by the department do not automatically report readings, they are read manually by school staff. CO2 monitors are an additional measure which we are rolling out to education providers to be used as a guide for where ventilation can be improved. This is not intended to create an additional burden on staff but is an extra tool to support providers to improve ventilation. It is up to school leaders to decide how to best use them in their specific school, college or nursery.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/1400789?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`8acc8a0c113bbef480d3ee612e4266f4f90393174c2bee3b2daa870bd9d80f71`