Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of schools in England have received their requested allocation of devices to support remote learning.

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. As of Monday 25 January 2021, this includes over 870,000 laptops and tablets that were delivered to schools, academy trusts and local authorities.

All schools have been invited to order their full allocation of devices. Schools, academy trusts and local authorities are responsible for distributing the laptops and tablets and are best placed to know which children and young people need access to a device.

Figures on the number of devices delivered are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data/2021-week-4.

The Department announced on 12 January 2021 that it is purchasing 300,000 more laptops and tablets, bringing the total number we have secured from one million to 1.3 million. The Get Help with Technology scheme will email all schools with information on the number of additional devices allocated to them, and when they will be able to order. We are providing this significant injection of devices on top of an estimated 2.9 million laptops and tablets already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Where pupils experience barriers to digital remote education, we expect schools to offer different forms of remote education such as printed resources or textbooks. This should be supplemented with other forms of communication to keep pupils on track or answer questions about work.

Where schools need additional devices, above their allocations, they should contact the Department for Education’s service team at covid.technology@education.gov.uk. They should include the number of disadvantaged children in years 3 to 11 who require support and an explanation of how they have gathered this evidence.