Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) completed, (b) in-progress and (c) refused requests for devices and broadband under his Department’s scheme to support remote learning during the covid-19 oubreak to date.

The Government has committed over £100 million to support vulnerable and disadvantaged children in England to access remote education and social care services, including by providing laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers.

We are providing laptops and tablets to disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examinations in Year 10, receiving support from a social worker or are a care leaver. Where care leavers, children with a social worker at secondary school and children in Year 10 do not have internet connections, we are providing 4G wireless routers.

The Department has ordered over 200,000 laptops and tablets and allocated devices to local authorities and academy trusts based on its estimates of the number of disadvantaged and vulnerable children that do not have access to a device. Local authorities and schools are best placed to identify those children that need support through this scheme. Where local authorities and academy trusts have identified a need greater than their initial allocation, the Department has been working with them to provide additional devices. Requests for devices for eligible children are not refused.

The Department invited local authorities to order devices for the most vulnerable children first - children with a social worker and care leavers. Devices are being delivered to local authorities daily and will continue to be distributed throughout June.