Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many laptops have been (a) requested and (b) sent to Nottinghamshire schools to enable the completion of work during the covid-19 outbreak; and whether those laptops are sent directly to schools or to the local authority first.

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

The Department has allocated devices to local authorities and academy trusts based on its estimates of the number of eligible children that do not have access to a device. Local authorities and academy trusts are best placed to prioritise children and young people who need devices.

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 1,860 devices delivered to Nottinghamshire County Council, which is broken down as: 1,824 devices for children with social workers and care leavers, and 36 devices for disadvantaged year 10 pupils in local authority maintained schools. Academy trusts who have schools in Nottinghamshire have also received devices directly.