Remote Education: Liverpool West Derby

(asked on 2nd November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of school children who did not have access to broadband and computer equipment have been given the equipment required to enable them to carry out school work from home where required in Liverpool West Derby constituency.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 5th November 2020

The Department has invested over £195 million to support remote education through laptops and tablets, internet provision, and online education platforms.

Over 220,000 laptops and tablets were delivered during the summer term for disadvantaged children who would not otherwise have access. This data can be found here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/912888/Devices_and_4G_wireless_routers_progress_data_as_of_27_August_2020.pdf and includes data on Liverpool Council and trusts in the Liverpool region.

The Department have supplemented this support by making an additional 340,000 laptops and tablets available in the event face-to-face schooling is disrupted as a result of local Covid-19 restrictions, and children become reliant on remote education.

Over 100,000 devices have been delivered to schools since September, which includes 5,728 delivered to schools in the Liverpool region.

We have already provided over 50,000 4G wireless routers, with free data for the autumn term, to support disadvantaged children to access remote education and vital social care services.

In partnership with select mobile network operators, the Department ran a small-scale trial with a limited number of local authorities and academy trusts to identify and support disadvantaged families who would benefit from free mobile data uplifts to engage in remote education. Following the success of this pilot, we are now working with mobile network operators to provide a national service for disadvantaged children.

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