Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2020 to Question 51606 on Home Education: Computers, how many (a) laptops, (b) tablets and (c) 4G wireless routers his Department has allocated to Wirral Council.

The Department has published information about how many laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers we have delivered or dispatched to local authorities and academy trusts: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data.

The Department is providing over 200,000 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.

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

Earlier this month, the Department started inviting academy trusts and local authorities to order their devices for disadvantaged year 10 pupils. Thousands of devices continue to be delivered each day. Laptops and tablets will continue to be ordered and delivered throughout June.