Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the guidance issued by his Department entitled, Get technology support for children and schools during coronavirus (Covid-19), published on 19 April 2020, what the timeframe is for Queen Elizabeth's Girls School, Barnet, to be invited to apply to that programme in accordance with the undertaking contained in that guidance that schools would be sent information on how to do this.

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

We are 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 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 for internet access.

On 24 April, local authorities (LAs) and academy trusts were invited to forecast the number of devices they needed to support children and young people that they are responsible for in the eligible categories. LAs are responsible for ordering devices for children with a social worker and care leavers, as well as disadvantaged Year 10 pupils in LA-maintained schools. Academy trusts are only responsible for disadvantaged Year 10 pupils in their schools.

After LAs and academy trusts completed their forecast, the Department for Education confirmed the number of devices and routers that they would receive. LAs and academy trusts were offered the option to request additional devices for eligible children where needed.

The Department invited LAs and academy trusts to order devices throughout May and June. All LAs and academy trusts can now order the devices they have forecast.

As of 30 June, over 200,000 laptops and tablets and over 47,000 4G wireless routers had been delivered or dispatched to local authorities and academy trusts. This information can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data.

This includes 20 devices for Queen Elizabeth’s Girls School, Barnet.