Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2022 to Question 256 on Schools: Digital Technology, what factors are used to determine a priority area; and if he will publish further details on the work being undertaken by his Department with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools.
Up to £150 million will be invested in our Connect the Classroom programme to upgrade schools that fall below our Wi-Fi connectivity standards in priority areas. At this time these are educational establishments within our 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs), which include the places where attainment is currently weakest.
The qualifying criteria within these areas is:
More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-investment-areas-selection-methodology.
Further details on the government’s separate programme to accelerate the rollout of gigabit-capable broadband to schools can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/thousands-of-rural-primary-schools-to-get-huge-broadband-upgrade.