Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when local authorities will receive IT equipment for vulnerable children so that they are able to access digital learning resources during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Department is providing laptops and tablets to vulnerable and disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examinations in Year 10, receiving support from a social worker, including pre-school children, or are a care leaver.

Where care leavers, children with a social worker at secondary school and disadvantaged children in Year 10 do not have internet connections, we are providing 4G wireless routers to them so that they can learn at home.

Local authorities and academy trusts are best placed to identify and distribute the laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers to children and young people who need them. The Department has invited local authorities to order devices for the most vulnerable children first - children with a social worker and care leavers.

To date, the Department has delivered nearly 50,000 devices and 10,000 4G wireless routers to local authorities to distribute to eligible children. Deliveries will continue throughout June.