Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of January 29 2021 to Question 142923 on Remote Education, how much funding has been allocated to technical support to help schools set up accounts for Google and Microsoft during the covid-19 lockdowns; and how much funding for that purpose is yet to be allocated.

As of 24 February 2021, £5.4 million has been spent out of a programme budget of £14.23 million, leaving £8.83 million of remaining funding.

The primary reason for selecting the (a) Microsoft and (b) Google platforms was that they are free to use to the education sector, and both platforms include features and functionalities that are designed to support communication, collaboration and assessment.