The Town Hall has criticised government “failures” in a draft plan that sets out the way ahead for the borough’s schools following the Covid pandemic.

Councillors on the children’s services scrutiny committee spent last year gathering evidence for the report, and draft recommendations have now been released.

Committee chair Cllr Vivien Cutler said: “Over the three months of interviewing witnesses, two elements came to the fore – the corrosive impact of the virus on the disadvantaged and the near-universal experience of anxiety.

“The legacy of austerity and the failure of this government to predict the extent of the pandemic or to adequately fund councils and schools for the additional expenditure generated by it are a savage indictment of its so-called levelling-up policies.”

The report recommends sourcing additional digital devices for students in case of another lockdown, and also would commit the council to push for more government funding to provide Covid-secure learning environments.