Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made recent representations to Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of allocating funding to ensure that children and young people have free internet access in households on universal credit.

The department is supportive of the work done by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to promote access to social tariffs for households on universal credit. Social tariffs offer low-cost landline and broadband services for those on certain means-tested benefits. In April 2022, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport wrote to providers asking them to do more to promote their social tariffs to ensure low-income households know about the support available. The government will continue to engage industry in increasing awareness of the social tariffs available moving forward. In September 2021, the government partnered with industry leaders to launch the Digital Inclusion Impact Group to tackle digital exclusion. One of the pilot programmes is Dell Donate to Educate, which supports children with the right access to technology at school and at home.