Children in Care: Coronavirus

(asked on 14th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the number of children in care who do not have access to (a) digital devices or (b) data in order to access remote support from social services in the event they or their social worker are required to self-isolate; and what steps is he taking to improve access.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 19th October 2020

During the summer term, the department delivered over 220,000 laptops and tablets and over 50,000 4G wireless routers to disadvantaged children who would not otherwise have access, as part of over £160 million invested to support remote education and access to online social care.

The department distributed laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers to disadvantaged children in Year 10, children receiving support from a social worker and care leavers. This is to ensure these children and young people could continue to access remote education and vital, online social care services online during COVID-19 restrictions.

The department is now supplementing this support by making an additional 250,000 laptops and tablets available to schools in the event that face-to-face schooling is disrupted as a result of local COVID-19 restrictions and children become reliant on remote education.

We are also working with the major telecommunications companies to improve internet connectivity for disadvantaged and vulnerable families who rely on a mobile internet connection. We are piloting an approach where mobile network operators are providing temporary access to free additional data offering families more flexibility to access the resources that they need the most.

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