The Public Accounts Committee’s report into the way the Department for Education handled the challenge of Covid-19 is utterly damning. It condemns the department for having “no plan” and being “unprepared” for the virus, despite being involved in a 2016 cross-government exercise on dealing with a pandemic.î
When schools shut their gates in the spring of 2020, the DfE failed to set a standard for remote learning which led to unequal experiences, with a particularly serious impact on children already facing adversity. It failed to plan for a second lockdown, and allowed the GCSE and A-level exams fiasco to snowball.
In normal times, the buck would stop with one person: Gavin Williamson. He knows little about education and displays even less interest in it. A man who likes the House of Cards theatre of playing chief whip, but seemingly possesses no ability to grapple with the demands of running a department.
Boris Johnson should remove him, but he remains in place. Could it be because the Prime Minister fears Williamson has dirt on him? Whatever else is there that might come out?
Whatever one’s views of Michael Gove, he at least had great passion for education. Williamson should take his own advice he gave to Russia while defence secretary: he should “go away and shut up”.
