Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to next publish detailed data, by (a) region and (b) local authority, on the allocation of (i) devices and (ii) 4G broadband provided to schools to support students who are required to learn remotely during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Department has invested over £195 million to support remote education and access to online social care, delivering over 220,000 laptops and tablets during the summer term for disadvantaged children who would not otherwise have access to a digital device.

The Department is adding to this support by making over 340,000 additional laptops and tablets available to support disadvantaged children that might experience disruption to their education. Since September, over 100,000 of these have been delivered to schools.

Laptops and tablets are owned by the local authority, trust or school who can lend unused laptops and tablets to children and young people who need them most. Once pupils who have been self-isolating return to school, schools can choose to reallocate devices if other pupils experience disruption to face-to-face education due to COVID-19.

In the context of significant global demand, the Department has updated its allocation process to more accurately align orders with the number of disadvantaged pupils schools typically have self-isolating, ensuring as many children as possible benefit from receiving a device this term.

The Department recognises that levels of self-isolation may be higher in different areas of the country and that face-to-face education is being prioritised in all eventualities. Where schools need additional devices, they should contact the Department’s service team at: covid.technology@education.gov.uk.

This more targeted approach will mean that as many schools and disadvantaged children as possible benefit from receiving a device in the event that their face-to-face education is disrupted. Further data on the number of devices distributed will be released this term.