UNIONS and scientists have renewed calls for the government to retain the requirement for face masks to be worn in secondary schools, amid reports that ministers are set to scrap it.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson was reported today to be planning to lift the measure as part of step three of the government’s “road map,” expected on May 17.

The move comes despite a letter sent to Mr Williamson earlier this week by scientists, public health experts, education unions and parents’ groups, cautioning against easing the measure before June 21, describing masks as “an essential part of the wider system of control in schools.”