Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children do not have access to a laptop or tablet for the purpose of remote learning in England, as of 11 January 2021.

The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services. This includes securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people, 750,000 of which were delivered to schools, academy trusts and local authorities by the end of last week.

Based on survey data, we know that schools already owned over 1.9 million laptops, and nearly one million tablets, before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Government is providing significant additional support alongside other local initiatives. Ofcom’s UK-wide estimate is that between 1.14 million and 1.78 million children in total in the UK have no home access to a laptop, desktop or tablet.

The laptops and tablets are an injection of support to help schools, academy trusts and local authorities to provide access to remote education and online social care. Schools, academy trusts and local authorities are responsible for distributing the laptops and tablets and are best placed to know which children and young people need access to a device.