Education: Return in January

Justin Madders Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in thanking the teachers and support staff in Hazel Grove for all the work that they do. We all recognise that we are placing great burdens on so many public servants. Our job as a Department is to give them as much support as possible. As a former Chief Whip, I think it is always best to focus on the Department and job that one has, which is why my focus is on education and schools.

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab) [V]]

According to Sutton Trust research, 15% of teachers report that a third of their students do not have adequate facilities to learn remotely from home. While I accept that some attempt has been made to rectify that, there are still too many pupils unable to learn online. Will the Secretary of State tell us how many pupils in those schools not reopening next month do not currently have access to online learning?

[Gavin Williamson]

The hon. Gentleman is right to point out that the best place for children to learn is in school, which is why we have at every stage driven as hard as possible to ensure that schools are open and remain open. That is why we are taking the actions we are—whether that is the mass testing regime or the fact that primary schools will open up on 4 January—because we realise that the best place for children to be is in school. We looked at the needs of schools for additional laptops and digital equipment and have expanded the original provision of 200,000 laptops to more than 1 million. As I touched on earlier, that distribution of additional laptops is currently ongoing and will continue over the coming weeks.