Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has said that reopening England schools in January will involve “trade-offs” with other coronavirus restrictions.

Mr Gove said the Government was confident primary school pupils and Year 11 and Year 13 pupils in England would be able to return in the first week of January, with the rest going back later in the month.

“It is our intention to make sure we can get children back to school as early as possible,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“We are talking to teachers and head teachers in order to make sure we can deliver effectively. But we all know that there are trade-offs.

“As a country we have decided – and I think this is the right thing to do – that we prioritise children returning to school.

“But we have a new strain and it is also the case that we have also had, albeit in a very limited way, Christmas mixing, so we do have to remain vigilant.

“We are confident that we will be able to get schools back in good order. Our plan and our timetable is there, and were are working with teachers to deliver it.”

Mr Gove earlier said the Government hopes the staggered reopening of schools in England will go ahead in January as planned.

“We always keep things under review but teachers and head teachers have been working incredibly hard over the Christmas period since schools broke up in order to prepare for a new testing regime – community testing – in order to make sure that children and all of us are safer,” he told Sky News.

“We do keep things under review but that is the plan.”