Will university students be able to go home at Christmas? Latest government guidelines

Pressed on whether they will have to stay in halls over Christmas, she added: “You’ve heard the secretary of state, he won’t rule anything out. But what we want is to see people being able to spend time with their families.”

She continued: “Matt Hancock said you can’t rule that out. But we absolutely don’t want to. Christmas is months ahead so let’s do the right thing over the weeks and months ahead.”

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden had earlier said it would only be possible for young people to visit their family at the end of term if the country follows existing guidance.

Mr Dowden told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday he "very much" wanted students to "be able to go home at Christmas".

"If we all pull together and observe these new rules, we follow the guidance, then we will be able to get to a point where that should be possible," he said.

Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling later said there were “no plans” to keep students in university over Christmas, and accused Labour of “deliberately creating unnecessary stress for young people to score political points”.

Shadow public health minister Alex Norris hit back, saying the Government was “yet again sowing the seeds of chaos and incompetence – denying plans to keep students at university over Christmas at the same time the Culture Secretary was refusing to rule it out”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously said universities have been given a "clear request" not to send students home in the event of a Covid-19 outbreak on campuses "so as to avoid spreading the virus across the country".

Students on campuses across the country have been warned not to attend large freshers’ week parties due to the ban on social gatherings of more than six people in England.

In many institutions, seminars and tutorials are due to be taught in-person – with a range of social distancing measures – while freshers’ week activities and large lectures are mainly virtual.

But Mr Johnson is now being urged to ensure online tuition at universities “becomes the norm” amid concern over the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns on students.

In a letter to the PM, the University and College Union (UCU) accused some institutions of adopting a “stubborn position” over requiring in-person teaching because they depended on rent from student accommodation.

In her letter to Mr Johnson, Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said the union which represents academics and university staff was “not prepared to take chances with the health of students, our members and the communities they serve”.

“It is clear that remote learning should be the default for campus life while we are in this precarious position with the virus,” she said.

“However, what we are seeing on the ground is university employers hiding behind the Government’s current sectoral guidance, with all the ambiguities associated with the term ‘blended learning’.

She added: “Whilst other sectors are being encouraged by the Government to work from home to help control the spread of the virus, universities are requiring staff to travel across their local regions to work on-site and in-person with any number of students.

“Considering the known risks associated with in-person teaching and students living in close quarters, why did the Government not insist on minimising in-person teaching and students travelling to universities?

“We have concerns that universities are taking this stubborn position because they depend on rents from student accommodation – and because your own Government refuses to step in and underwrite universities’ lost income for the duration of the pandemic to ensure they are not negatively impacted and jobs are not lost.”

Ms Grady also said students should be allowed to leave their accommodation and return home “without fear of financial penalty”.

“We cannot have students forced to quarantine in halls of residence with no familiar support network, or staff forced to carry out work on site that could be conducted more safely from home,” she said.

On Tuesday, Mr Williamson said universities have been asked to provide “additional help and practical support” to students, with universities ensuring those isolating are “properly cared for” and can access food, medical and cleaning supplies if needed.

He said universities were “well prepared” to handle any Covid-19 outbreaks should they arise, adding: “Where students choose to stay in their university accommodation over Christmas, universities should continue making sure they’re safe and well looked after.”

Mr Williamson said students were expected to follow the same coronavirus guidance as local communities and that he did not believe there should be moves to “inflict stricter measures on students or expect higher standards of behaviour from them than we would from any other sector of society”.

The Education Secretary also said a shift to online learning could be applied in “specific cases” to enable students return home at the end of term.

“But we envisage that to be a very small number of universities,” he said.

But shadow education secretary Kate Green warned that if Mr Williamson did not “get a grip” on the “crisis” the current situation faced by students self-isolating could “repeat itself across the country”.

“Students will be unable to continue their studies, families will be concerned for their wellbeings and universities will face serious financial difficulties,” she said.