Children’s Rights: Digital Environment
Debate between Lord Watson of Invergowrie and Lord McFall of Alcluith(3 years, 5 months ago)
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The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)
I call the noble Baroness, Lady Barran—sorry, the noble Lord, Lord Watson of Invergowrie.
Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)
Understandable confusion from the Lord Speaker.
My Lords, The Ofcom Online Nation 2021 Report showed that lockdown had highlighted the digital divide and that, with one in 10 households without access to the internet during lockdown, it had been magnified and was clearly a severe socioeconomic problem. Last week the Times reported that Amazon was engaged in the mass disposal of unused IT equipment, with 120,000 items marked for destruction in one week alone. I know the Minister will share my anger at that obscene waste, against the backdrop of lost education and damaged life chances caused by the pandemic. So can she tell noble Lords what discussions the Government have had or will have with retailers to maximise the charitable repositioning of devices for schools?