Boris Johnson has said that extending the school day “is the right thing to do” to help pupils catch up after Covid disruption to education.

The prime minister was asked at a meeting of the Commons Liaison Committee what it would take to persuade him and the Treasury to invest in a fully funded long-term recovery plan with a longer school day.

Extending the school day was expected to be at the heart of the government’s Covid education recovery plans but was not included in the controversial £1.4 billion package announced by the Department for Education last month.

This led to the resignation of the government’s education reovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins, who had put forward proposals, including a longer school day, which would have cost around £15 billion.

Exclusive: Sir Kevan Collins resigns

Covid catch-up: No extended school day in latest catch-up announcement

Critics: Covid catch-up plan a ‘paltry’, ‘disappointing’ ‘damp squib’

The prime minister was asked today what it would take for him and the Treasury to support investing in a plan that lengthened the school day.

Mr Johnson replied: “We are looking at the evidence. If I am absolutely frank with you, some of the evidence that was assembled was not as good as it could have been.

Covid catch-up: Government ‘reviewing evidence’ on extended school day

“The evidence on timetable, on lengthening the school day, wasn’t as powerful as it was on tuition, for instance, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not the right thing to do. I do think it is the right thing to do. The question is how you do it.

“What sort of activities? Is it academic? is it enrichment? What’s the mixture?

“We are doing a proper review of all of that to get the evidence that we want.”

Mr Johnson had been questioned over the length of the school day by Conservative MP Robert Halfon, the chair of the Commons Education Select Committee.

Mr Halfon had asked: “Do you not think there should be a long-term plan for education, in which a significant part of it would require a longer school day, not just for academic catch-up but for extracurricular activities, such as sport and wellbeing? And what more needs to be done to convince you, as prime minister, and the Treasury that the fully funded long-term plan with a longer school day is worth supporting and giving proper resources to?”