This is the forty-second of a series of bulletins produced by ISE to update members on key data and policy related to Covid-19. This bulletin covers the period 21st – 27th January 2021.

You can access all of the Covid-19 bulletins on ISE insights.

Latest Covid-19 data

Data taken from Wikipedia and from the government’s Covid-19 dashboard.

The UK has now had over 3.7 million identified Covid-19 cases and 103,602 deaths (with Covid on the death certificate). The R rate is estimated to be between 0.8 and 1 with the daily infection rate shrinking by 4%-1%. The Office for National Statistics has also published new data on Covid-related deaths.

The number of new cases is falling although it is still above the level that led to the November lockdown. The number of deaths is continuing to rise.

Covid news

• There are concerns that the new variants of Covid may be more deadly.

Education

• The government is thinking about how to reopen schools arguing that it is a national priority. Gavin Williamson promises that parents and teachers will get two weeks notice and the Prime Minister says that he hopes that schools will reopen from the 8th March.
• There has been a massive shift to digital learning during lockdown. This raises the question as to whether some of these shifts will be permanent.
• There are concerns about the financial strain that colleges have been under during the pandemic.

The skills white paper

The government released Skills for jobs: lifelong learning for opportunity and growth a major new white paper on skills and further education. Key stakeholders have been responding to the white paper throughout the week. In an interview with FE Week, skills minister Gillian Keegan sets out what the white paper is trying to achieve.

• Some have welcomed the white paper arguing that it brings new focus and attention to skills and further education. See commentary from Sally Dicketts and Alun Francis.
• But for others there are concerns that the white paper is not ambitious enough and that it will be difficult to implement. See commentary from Stephen Evans, Johnathan Simons, Andy Westwood and Russell George.
• A key element of the white paper is the promise to put employers at the heart of the education and training system. The promise is that they will have more say over what the system focuses on and produces. This is the right policy argues Jane Hickie, but Stephen Isherwood from the ISE argues that it is important to distinguish between the rhetoric and the proposals.
• More specific analyses have looked at the impact of the white paper on higher education, career guidance (with the Career Development Institute publishing a detailed analysis of the white paper).
• But, there are concerns as to how whether the Treasury has signed off on some of the more ambitious proposals in the white paper.

The economy

• There are concerns that the economy could become more K-shaped as the pandemic ends e.g. that there might be a recovery for some, but not for others. Laura McInerney explores what this means for education and young people.
• See the government’s guide to the support it provides for businesses.

The labour market

The latest figures on unemployment (from November 2020) suggests that unemployment in the UK is continuing to trend upwards month on month. Figures from the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey and NEETs data.

• Firms planned a record number of redundancies in 2020.
• Low paid workers are more than twice as likely to have lost their job during the pandemic.
• Gordon Brown argues that the unemployment data masks the real extent of unemployment.
• Rishi Sunak has revamped Kickstart to address various problems in the scheme. Stephen Evans says that we need to continue to ramp up support for unemployed young people.

Student recruitment and development

• Covid is continuing to reshape the way in which student recruitment works. An ISE roundtable offered 8 tips on digital attraction while Stephen Isherwood discusses digital work experience.
• How are student development programmes changing?