My summer cycling constituency tour continues to take me around the beautiful coast and countryside. It’s been an absolute privilege to meet so many businesses and talk to the owners and staff about the challenges this year has brought. 

I very much hope that our schools will also be open for business next week. This has been a very challenging time for everyone but it has been particularly bewildering for the young. With their dreams ahead of them, we now see a challenging jobs market and unpredictability with the exams grading system. In June, I welcomed the ambition to ensure every pupil would be back in school before the summer holidays began. That did not prove to be the case and it was a failure of our young people by everyone concerned. We now seem to be on track, thanks to positive working between Government, local authorities our headteachers and schools. The deputy Chief Medical Officer was correct to highlight that the risks to children in attending school are ‘very, very small’ and report that the longer term implications in not attending school would outweigh the risk in attending during our Covid period. 

Unfortunately, we had a curveball this week with the news that face-coverings would be required for the corridors and communal areas of our schools. This would be mandatory in areas where lockdown has been reintroduced and optional for schools to decide in areas like our own.

I was not supportive of this measure being introduced. Our schools have taken great steps on social distancing and deep cleaning. We need to send a message to young people, parents and staff, that the risks of Covid are extremely low within the school setting. By suggesting that the corridors are unsafe, we find it harder to reassure that the classrooms are safe. By leaving it to schools, we know full well that headteachers will be concerned about their risks of liability so they will implement. It therefore becomes mandatory in all but name. Surely if the Government views this as a requirement, the Government should make the call. 

Of course, this change is justified as being led by the science. However, the advice previously was that face-coverings would not be required. When I was interviewed by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on this matter, I made the suggestion that people were confused by science which changes despite the circumstances not having altered. The response from some correspondents would have been more appropriate were I advancing the notion that the earth is flat. It’s vitally important that everyone is held to account for these drastic decisions which can be draconian in nature. That includes politicians, who must be overall accountable, but should also include challenging the science and asking why it has changed and why it must be followed. I will continue to do that, regardless of criticism. I am of the view that, until a vaccine can be found, we need to learn to live with Coronavirus. We need to take safe steps but these need to be proportionate to the risks. Nothing in our lives is ever risk-free. Risks are reduced, or increased, as technology develops and environmental and health matters alter. The Coronavirus is just one such facet. 

It may not be politically popular to say it but I do feel it’s time we put more emphasis on the financial consequences to households, the lost hospital appointments which would have given early diagnosis to potentially fatal diseases, domestic violence, isolation and mental health challenges and lost educational opportunities when we make Covid-related decisions. 

This is not easy, and any Government would struggle with the enormous challenges. Education during lockdown has not been our greatest success. As we finally open up our schools to all pupils, let’s send a message that this is a necessity. Let’s say ‘thank you’ to the headteachers, teachers and staff for being on the front line. Let’s reassure parents that, in taking a little more risk, they are giving their children the greatest gift in life - an education. 

I look forward to visiting our schools once they have settled in. On the same day they reopen, Parliament does likewise. I’ll therefore be swapping my cycle saddle for the green benches.