Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many laptops have been requested by schools in (a) Greater London, (b) the London Borough of Bexley and (c) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown to date.

The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, by securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. This includes over 920,000 laptops and tablets that were delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and Further Education providers by 1 February 2021, who are responsible for distributing them onward to disadvantaged children and families.

All schools, trusts and local authorities have now been given the opportunity to order devices. Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts or local authorities to lend to children and young people who need them most during the current COVID-19 restrictions.

Figures on the number of devices delivered, broken down by local authority and academy trust are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data/2021-week-5. This includes 39,374 delivered to Greater London local authorities, 742 of which delivered were to Bexley. Regional figures for delivery of devices are currently not available for the period requested and figures by Parliamentary constituency are also not available.

Where schools need additional devices, above their allocations, they should contact the Department’s service team at covid.technology@education.gov.uk. They should include the number of disadvantaged children in Years 3 to 11 who require support and an explanation of how they have gathered this evidence.