Children: Digital Technology

(asked on 17th September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2020 to Question 81506, if he will make it his policy to extend the eligibility for technology support for 16 to 19 year olds to under-16-year olds who are not eligible for a student bursary.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 28th September 2020

The Department has already delivered over 220,000 laptops and tablets and over 50,000 4G wireless routers to children and young people who would not otherwise have online access, as part of over £100 million invested to support remote education and access to online social care. This included devices for children aged 0 to 19 with a social worker, care leavers and disadvantaged pupils in year 10.

The Department is now supplementing this support by making available additional devices – initially 150,000 – in the event that face to face schooling is disrupted as a result of local COVID-19 restrictions and children become reliant on remote education. This scheme is intended to enable schools to support disadvantaged children in year 3 to year 11 who cannot afford their own devices. Schools will also be able to order devices for disadvantaged children across all year groups who are shielding as a result of official or medical advice, all year groups who attend hospital schools and those completing their Key Stage 4 at a further education college.

In addition to providing laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers, the Department is piloting two methods to provide internet connectivity to families with children and young people up to 16 years old. In partnership with BT, we are piloting a service to provide children and young people free access to BT Wi-Fi hotspots. Through the pilot, up to 10,000 families are able to access a BT Wi-Fi connection. We are also working with the major telecommunications companies to pilot an approach where mobile network operators are providing temporary access to free additional data, offering families more flexibility to access the resources that they need the most.

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