The government has been unable to say how many contacts of Covid cases have been traced in schools since the start of the new academic year.

This comes as latest figures show that Covid cases are rising once again among pupils, amid warnings from heads about the importance of contact tracing.

The Department of Health and Social Care told Tes it did not have data on the number of people who had been identified and contacted as Covid contacts in a school - nor how many of those had taken a PCR test as a result.

The tracing of Covid contacts inside schools has been the responsibility of NHS Test and Trace since the final week of the previous term, when it was taken out of the hands of headteachers.

But there is mounting concern that school contacts of pupils and staff who catch the coronavirus are rarely being contacted.

Survey findings seen by Tes show that just over one in 10 headteachers are aware of Covid contacts inside and outside school being identified by NHS Test and Trace this term.

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The overall proportion of pupils out of school for Covid-related reasons in England fell after the October half term, according to the latest Department for Education data.

However, teachers and heads are warning that this may just be a temporary effect of the “circuit breaker” half-term holiday.

Latest government data today shows case rates have risen sharply across all age groups in England following the return to school after half term. 

A total of 722.9 new cases per 100,000 people aged 5 to 9 were recorded in the seven days to 14 November, up week-on-week from 484.5.

The rate for 10 to 19-year-olds also rose to 694.2, up from 571.7.

‘No data’

In a freedom of information request, Tes asked the DHSC, since 1 September of this year:

• How many close contacts of Covid cases have been identified by NHS Test and Trace in schools?
• How many close contacts of Covid cases have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace in schools?
• And how many close contacts of Covid cases in schools have taken PCR tests?

In response, the department said it did not have the data requested.

A department spokesperson also said that this information was not published.

Separately, Tes asked the DfE and the Office for National Statistics if they hold data on tracing of Covid contacts in schools. 

The DfE has referred queries about NHS Test and Trace to the DHSC, and the ONS has yet to respond.

How the rules on Covid contacts in schools have changed

There have been two major changes around Covid contact tracing in schools this term.

Firstly, responsibility for identifying and tracing Covid contacts is no longer down to schools and has passed to NHS Test and Trace.

Secondly, the rules around what Covid contacts have to do has changed. For most of the last academic year, contacts would have been asked by schools to self-isolate if they were under 18 or had two Covid jabs.

But now they can continue to attend - although they are asked to take a PCR test.

Few heads say Covid contacts are being identified 

Heads have warned that school Covid control measures are weakened if contacts of positive cases are not even being identified.

A survey of Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) members last month found that nearly a third (32 per cent) said NHS Test and Trace is not getting in contact with any close contacts at all.

And nearly a quarter (24 per cent) said NHS Test and Trace is only getting in touch with contacts outside of school.

The findings, shared with Tes, also show that just 12 per cent of ASCL members said contacts both inside and outside of school were being contacted.

The remainder (32 per cent) of the 567 school leaders responding said they did not know.

Julie McCulloch, director of policy at ASCL, said it was always clear that NHS Test and Trace would not carry out contact tracing to the same extent as previously happened in schools.

It was right that the responsibility for contact tracing was lifted from schools and given to NHS Test and Trace, she said, as carrying out this public health duty was proving “extremely onerous for schools”.

But, she added, the fact that so many school leaders report that NHS Test and Trace does not actually appear to be fulfilling this duty was “worrying as this means that even the less stringent control measure of advising those close contacts to take a PCR test is not then happening”.

This “will obviously have not helped in terms of preventing the rising incidence of Covid transmission and the educational disruption we have seen this term”, she said.

When contact tracing was taken out of schools’ hands in July, guidance said that only “a very small number of close contacts” were expected to be identified for each case. 

However, last month Tes revealed that heads had warned education secretary Nadhim Zahawi of their concerns that in some schools contact tracing did not appear to be taking place at all.