Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to implement the Connect the Classroom pilot project.
Answered by Will Quince
Building on the £30 million investment for the Connect the Classroom pilot programme, the department is investing up to a further £150 million on Connect the Classroom to upgrade more schools that fall below our Wi-Fi connectivity standards in priority areas. The Connect the Classroom pilot started in 2021 and engagement with schools who qualify for the additional £150 million of investment began June 2022.
National connectivity data does not cover private business fibre connections procured by schools or the take-up of a high-speed internet service by a school. The previous analysis of publicly available data of access to infrastructure showed that 3,835 schools are in postcodes that do not have access to full fibre or are currently not in areas of proposed commercial build within the next five years. This covered schools which do not have access to gigabit infrastructure, but does not consider new activity planned since this time.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of schools in England that do not have access to gigabit broadband.
Answered by Will Quince
Building on the £30 million investment for the Connect the Classroom pilot programme, the department is investing up to a further £150 million on Connect the Classroom to upgrade more schools that fall below our Wi-Fi connectivity standards in priority areas. The Connect the Classroom pilot started in 2021 and engagement with schools who qualify for the additional £150 million of investment began June 2022.
National connectivity data does not cover private business fibre connections procured by schools or the take-up of a high-speed internet service by a school. The previous analysis of publicly available data of access to infrastructure showed that 3,835 schools are in postcodes that do not have access to full fibre or are currently not in areas of proposed commercial build within the next five years. This covered schools which do not have access to gigabit infrastructure, but does not consider new activity planned since this time.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is able to provide a timescale for the publication of further detail on the policy announcement to provide gigabit-capable broadband to all schools by 2025.
Answered by Robin Walker
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. Commercial providers, including Altnets, will be central to delivering on this important commitment.
Schools who qualify for funding have been identified from national connectivity data as the most difficult to reach schools that would be least likely to be upgraded before 2026 without government action. The department has already started work with the market and will begin contacting qualifying schools in the autumn term.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which Department will take the lead on delivering gigabit-capable broadband to all schools by 2025.
Answered by Robin Walker
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. Commercial providers, including Altnets, will be central to delivering on this important commitment.
Schools who qualify for funding have been identified from national connectivity data as the most difficult to reach schools that would be least likely to be upgraded before 2026 without government action. The department has already started work with the market and will begin contacting qualifying schools in the autumn term.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to engage with Altnets as part of its discussions with commercial providers on delivering gigabit-capable broadband to all schools by 2025.
Answered by Robin Walker
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. Commercial providers, including Altnets, will be central to delivering on this important commitment.
Schools who qualify for funding have been identified from national connectivity data as the most difficult to reach schools that would be least likely to be upgraded before 2026 without government action. The department has already started work with the market and will begin contacting qualifying schools in the autumn term.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential role of Altnets in providing gigabit-capable broadband to all schools by 2025.
Answered by Robin Walker
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. Commercial providers, including Altnets, will be central to delivering on this important commitment.
Schools who qualify for funding have been identified from national connectivity data as the most difficult to reach schools that would be least likely to be upgraded before 2026 without government action. The department has already started work with the market and will begin contacting qualifying schools in the autumn term.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether all schools will receive lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband by 2025.
Answered by Robin Walker
As announced by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, at the March 2022 Bett show, the government will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools. This will enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. This is the latest step in cross-government plans to roll out gigabit broadband across the UK. The department will be providing further detail in the future.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his policy is on funding childcare infrastructure in the (a) short and (b) long term.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government continues to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on 25 November an extra £44 million in the 2021-22 financial year for local authorities in England to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers. This is an above inflation average hourly funding rate uplift for 3-4 year-olds and 2 year-olds, compared to the 2020-21 financial year. Further information on how this will be distributed will be made available as soon as possible.
Funding beyond the 2021-22 financial year will be considered in the round at future Spending Reviews.
Education in Wales is a matter for the devolved administration.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of limits on the number of English students who can attend Scottish universities from 2020 on the higher education sector.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
Student number controls for English-domiciled students in Scotland are a direct response to the financial threat posed by the COVID-19 outbreak and they form a key part of the package of measures to stabilise the admissions system.
These controls are a temporary measure and will be in place for one academic year only. Student number controls for institutions in Scotland only apply to the number of English-domiciled entrants who will be supported with their tuition fees through the Student Loans Company. They are set at a level which will allow every institution to take more first year English students than they took last year. The funding of English-domiciled students is not a devolved matter, and it is right and fair that this policy should apply as consistently as possible wherever they are studying in the UK.
Ministers will continue to work closely with the devolved administrations on strengthening and stabilising the higher education system following the COVID-19 outbreak.