Remote Education: Broadband and Computers

(asked on 2nd February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have conducted a survey to ascertain how many school pupils do not have access to (1) a computer, laptop or tablet, and (2) home broadband; and if not, what plans they have to conduct such a survey.


Answered by
Baroness Berridge Portrait
Baroness Berridge
This question was answered on 17th February 2021

The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people.

As of 15 February 2021, over one million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, trusts, local authorities and further education providers.

Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts, local authorities, or further education providers who can lend these to children and young people who need them most during the current COVID-19 restrictions.

The Government is providing this significant injection of laptops and tablets on top of an estimated 2.9 million already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. The extra provision of laptops and devices is in line with Ofcom’s estimates for the number of pupils who do not have access to a device.

Ofcom has estimated that between 1.1 and 1.8 million children do not have access to a device across the whole of the UK. Education is devolved so our programme is just for England.

The Department estimated the number of disadvantaged pupils without access to an internet connection using data on pupils eligible for free school meals in each school, taking into consideration that some pupils would already have access to a private internet connection and estimations by Ofcom. Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have delivered over 60,000 routers to schools, local authorities, and trusts.

We have conducted surveys with schools, pupils and parents throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and have collected data on access to technology, which will be published in due course.

To support disadvantaged households who rely on a mobile internet connection, the Government has partnered with some of the UK’s leading mobile network operators, to help ensure that families have the data they need to access online educational resources while COVID-19 requires children to learn from home.

In partnership with mobile network operators, the Department is providing a service for schools if they have identified families who do not have a broadband connection and need free mobile data uplifts to engage in remote education.

Following a successful pilot, the offer is now available for schools across England to request free mobile data uplifts for disadvantaged children via the Get Help with Technology service.

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