Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of changing the level of VAT payable on laptops, tablets, routers and other items important to the delivery of distance learning for school children; and if he will make a statement.

VAT has always been designed to be a broad-based tax on consumption. Introducing a reduced rate of VAT on laptops, tablets, routers and other items for the delivery of distance learning would come at a considerable cost to the Exchequer, and the Government has no current plans to change the VAT treatment of such goods.