To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Remote Education: ICT
Friday 12th March 2021

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) laptops and tablets and (b) 4G wireless routers have been delivered to (i) schools, (ii) local authorities and (iii) academy trusts as of 9 March 2021.

Answered by Nick Gibb

As of Monday 8 March, over 1.2 million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities, and further education colleges. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/laptops-and-tablets-progress-data-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

The Department publishes this data every week during term time, the next publication will be Tuesday 16 March.

The Department has partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help over 30,000 disadvantaged children get online. We are not able to provide a breakdown of the numbers of requests received for each provider as this information is commercially sensitive for providers.

We are grateful to EE, Lycamobile, O2, Sky Mobile, Smarty, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile, Vodafone, iD Mobile and giffgaff for supporting the mobile data offer. The Department is currently engaged with additional mobile network operators and continues to invite a range of mobile network providers to support the offer.


Written Question
Remote Education: Mobile Broadband
Friday 12th March 2021

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the remote education support scheme being offered by mobile phone networks in partnership with his Department, how many pupils are receiving support offered by (a) EE, (b) O2, (c) Sky Mobile, (d) SMARTY, (e) Tesco Mobile, (f) Three, (g) Virgin Mobile and (f) Vodafone as of 9 March 2021.

Answered by Nick Gibb

As of Monday 8 March, over 1.2 million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities, and further education colleges. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/laptops-and-tablets-progress-data-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

The Department publishes this data every week during term time, the next publication will be Tuesday 16 March.

The Department has partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help over 30,000 disadvantaged children get online. We are not able to provide a breakdown of the numbers of requests received for each provider as this information is commercially sensitive for providers.

We are grateful to EE, Lycamobile, O2, Sky Mobile, Smarty, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile, Vodafone, iD Mobile and giffgaff for supporting the mobile data offer. The Department is currently engaged with additional mobile network operators and continues to invite a range of mobile network providers to support the offer.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 01 Mar 2021
Oral Answers to Questions

Speech Link

View all Siobhain McDonagh (Lab - Mitcham and Morden) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions

Written Question
Remote Education: Mobile Broadband
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the remote education support scheme being offered by mobile phone networks in partnership with his Department, how many pupils are receiving support offered by (a) EE, (b) O2, (c) Sky Mobile, (d) SMARTY, (e) Tesco Mobile, (f) Three, (g) Virgin Mobile and (f) Vodafone as of 22 February 2021.

Answered by Nick Gibb

As of Monday 15 February 2021, over one million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, trusts, local authorities and further education providers. More information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data/2021-week-7.

We publish this data every week during term time and the next publication will be Tuesday 2 March 2021.

We have partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online. We will provide official statistics on the number of requests received for uplifts in mobile data in early March 2021. We will not be able to provide a breakdown of the numbers of requests received for each provider as this information is commercially sensitive for providers.

We are grateful to EE, Lycamobile, O2, Sky Mobile, Smarty, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile, Vodafone, iD Mobile and giffgaff for supporting the mobile data offer. We are currently engaged with additional mobile network operators to provide further support through this offer.

Additionally, we are grateful to BT and EE, who have made access to BBC Bitesize resources free from the end of January 2021.


Written Question
Remote Education: ICT
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) laptops and tablets and (b) 4G wireless routers have been delivered to (i) schools, (ii) local authorities and (iii) academy trusts as of 22 February 2021.

Answered by Nick Gibb

As of Monday 15 February 2021, over one million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, trusts, local authorities and further education providers. More information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data/2021-week-7.

We publish this data every week during term time and the next publication will be Tuesday 2 March 2021.

We have partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online. We will provide official statistics on the number of requests received for uplifts in mobile data in early March 2021. We will not be able to provide a breakdown of the numbers of requests received for each provider as this information is commercially sensitive for providers.

We are grateful to EE, Lycamobile, O2, Sky Mobile, Smarty, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile, Vodafone, iD Mobile and giffgaff for supporting the mobile data offer. We are currently engaged with additional mobile network operators to provide further support through this offer.

Additionally, we are grateful to BT and EE, who have made access to BBC Bitesize resources free from the end of January 2021.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 25 Feb 2021
Education Route Map: Covid-19

Speech Link

View all Siobhain McDonagh (Lab - Mitcham and Morden) contributions to the debate on: Education Route Map: Covid-19

Written Question
Remote Education: Mobile Broadband
Wednesday 24th February 2021

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the remote education support scheme being offered by mobile phone networks in partnership with his Department, how many pupils are receiving support offered by (a) EE, (b) O2, (c) Sky Mobile, (d) SMARTY, (e) Tesco Mobile, (f) Three, (g) Virgin Mobile and (f) Vodafone as of 15 February 2021.

Answered by Nick Gibb

As of Monday 15 February 2021, over one million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and further education providers. More information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data. This data is published every week during term time.

The Department has partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online. We will provide official statistics on the number of requests received for uplifts in mobile data in early March 2021. We will not be able to provide a breakdown of the numbers of requests received for each provider as this information is commercially sensitive for providers.

We are grateful to EE, Lycamobile, O2, Sky Mobile, Smarty, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile, Vodafone, iD Mobile and giffgaff for supporting the mobile data offer. We are currently engaged with additional mobile network operators to provide further support through this offer.


Written Question
Remote Education: ICT
Wednesday 24th February 2021

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) laptops and tablets and (b) 4G wireless routers have been delivered to (i) schools, (ii) local authorities and (iii) academy trusts as of 15 February 2021.

Answered by Nick Gibb

As of Monday 15 February 2021, over one million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and further education providers. More information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data. This data is published every week during term time.

The Department has partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online. We will provide official statistics on the number of requests received for uplifts in mobile data in early March 2021. We will not be able to provide a breakdown of the numbers of requests received for each provider as this information is commercially sensitive for providers.

We are grateful to EE, Lycamobile, O2, Sky Mobile, Smarty, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile, Vodafone, iD Mobile and giffgaff for supporting the mobile data offer. We are currently engaged with additional mobile network operators to provide further support through this offer.


Written Question
Pupils: Coronavirus
Wednesday 24th February 2021

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school pupils (a) are eligible to take part in the mass asymptomatic covid-19 testing programme in schools, (b) have parental consent to take part in the scheme and (c) do not yet have parental consent and are unable to be tested under the scheme.

Answered by Nick Gibb

To date, all secondary and college pupils are eligible to take part in the Mass Asymptomatic Testing Programme. Regarding consent, schools and colleges are the individual data controllers responsible for processing any personal data, including obtaining and maintaining records of consent, for testing carried out on their sites. As part of testing, schools and colleges share data on tests carried out with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), at which point DHSC becomes the data controller. Therefore, the Department for Education does not hold the requested information.


Written Question
Remote Education
Monday 15th February 2021

Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the geographic variation in the uptake of funding to help schools set up remote learning platforms.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department is currently working with Google and Microsoft providers to deliver the Digital Education Platforms programme. The programme provides Government funded support for schools and colleges to get set up on one of two free to use digital platforms, which includes G Suite for Education (Google Classroom), and Office 365 Education (Microsoft Teams).

The funding covers the technical set up of the platform including all staff, pupil and student accounts.

Support is available to state funded:

  • primary schools
  • secondary schools
  • special schools
  • pupil referral units
  • further education colleges
  • sixth-form colleges

The funded support is for schools and colleges that:

  • do not have a digital education platform
  • have access to Office 365 Education or G Suite for Education, but are not yet set up to assign work and communicate with pupils and students

The Microsoft and Google platforms were chosen as they are free to use to the education sector and had the unified technology and support to set up and deliver effective remote education provision.

Google and Microsoft also offer several features and functionalities that are suitable for school needs.

As of 1 February 2021, £4.8 million has been spent out of a programme budget of £14.23 million, leaving £9.43 million of remaining funding.

The numbers of schools applying to the programme by RSC region is as follows:

  • South East England and South London: 968
  • North West London and South Central: 937
  • Lancashire and West Yorkshire: 851
  • East Midlands and the Humber: 579
  • West Midlands: 525
  • South West England: 519
  • East of England and North East:481
  • North of England: 273

The Department wants to ensure all schools are set up with a remote learning platform and are keeping this under constant review.