Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children who required a laptop in Wansbeck to carry out online learning have received one.

The Government is investing over £300 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing over one million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. This includes over 560,000 laptops and tablets that have already been delivered to schools, trusts and local authorities in 2020.

Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts or local authorities who can lend these to children and young people who need them most, during the current COVID-19 restrictions.

As of 18 December 2020, 455 devices had been delivered to Northumberland local authority. Devices have also been allocated to academy trusts in Northumberland which are not included in this figure. Constituencies can be spread over numerous local authorities and, as laptops have been distributed by local authority region or school, the Department does not have the data on the number of devices delivered within the Wansbeck constituency.

More information on the number of laptops delivered has been published here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data.