Care Leavers and Children in Care: Coronavirus

(asked on 11th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) looked-after children and (b) care leavers can access (i) IT equipment and (ii) internet during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 15th January 2021

The government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. This includes over 700,000 laptops and tablets that were delivered to schools, academy trusts and local authorities by 11 January. We have published the latest data here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data

We prioritised the delivery of devices for children receiving support from a social worker and care leavers during the summer term of the 2019/20 academic year. The Department delivered devices to local authorities, so that all children receiving support from a social worker and care leavers would have access to a device. These devices are the property of the local authority and they are responsible for their ongoing maintenance and support.

We have partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online as well as delivering 54,000 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home. We are grateful to EE, O2, Smarty, Sky Mobile, Tesco Mobile, Three, Virgin Mobile, and Vodafone. We continue to invite a range of mobile network providers to support the offer.

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