Call into question

A virtual Commons education session hears familiar responses but few answers

Yesterday’s parliamentary questions to education secretary Gavin Williamson and his team of ministers ought to have been an opportunity for the government to set out its plans for unlocking educational settings. Instead, it was treated as an exercise in damage limitation, with an emphasis on avoiding further gaffes.

The education ministers were on the back foot from the beginning as they tried to explain away an incident on Thursday evening when a press release outlining financial support for early-years, school and post-16 education was hastily withdrawn and replaced with one only promoting catch-up funding for schools.