Children: Computers

(asked on 6th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that students have the laptops and digital access required to learn remotely during periods of isolation or school closures.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 14th January 2021

The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people.

Despite unprecedented global demand, over 560,000 devices have already been delivered in 2020. By the end of this week, the Department will have delivered three quarters of a million devices.

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.

The Department has partnered with some of the UK’s leading mobile network operators, such as EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone, to provide free data to disadvantaged families, which will support access to education resources, including Oak National Academy, and other websites.

Families will benefit from this additional data until July 2021. Schools will be able to request free mobile data uplifts via the Get Help with Technology service.

In addition, the Department has already provided over 54,000 4G wireless routers, with free data for the academic year, and continue to provide 4G wireless routers where children need to access remote education.

Support is also available for schools to get set up on Google or Microsoft platforms. These platforms bring together the school community, pool resources, and give pupils the opportunity to work with their peers remotely. Since April, over 2 million accounts have been set up.

The EdTech Demonstrator network is in place to promote effective use of devices, including ways they can be used to promote greater accessibility to the curriculum.

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