Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support disabled children and their families to recover from effects of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families is a priority for this government, and their educational, physical and mental wellbeing remains central to our cross-government response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
We have provided £40.8 million for the Family Fund in 2020-21 to support over 80,000 families on low incomes raising children with disabilities or serious illnesses. This includes £13.5 million to specifically respond to needs arising from the outbreak.
We have published guidance for children's social care services, making clear that parents or carers of disabled children and young people may continue to access respite care, and have communicated best practice to Directors of Children's Services and local authorities to ensure that as many disabled children and young people as possible can continue to access these services during the COVID-19 outbreak. This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-childrens-social-care-services/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-local-authorities-on-childrens-social-care.
The government has provided £4.6 billion of additional funding in financial year 2020-21 to support councils through the COVID-19 outbreak to respond to local needs, including to deliver services to support vulnerable children.
We have and continue to develop plans for COVID-19 recovery. As part of this, both special schools and alternative provision will be able to access funding to provide summer schools and the National Tutoring Programme, and we recognise the additional costs associated with offering provision to pupils in specialist settings. This means that eligible pupils in special schools, special units in mainstream primary and secondary schools and alternative provision settings will attract a higher rate of the new one-off Recovery Premium funding worth £302 million, as well as funding for summer schools. We have consistently prioritised children who attend specialist settings in our Recovery Premiums to schools by providing additional uplifts both in 2020 and in 2021.
Young people with SEND aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan will be eligible for support via the 16 to 19 Tuition Fund, where they meet the fund criteria. Providers are asked to have regard to the needs of students with SEND when prioritising students that would benefit most from small group tuition. Furthermore, the proposals to support early language and literacy recovery will benefit all children, including those with SEND.
£200 million will be available to all secondary schools, including specialist settings, to deliver face-to-face summer schools. Schools will be able to target provision based on pupils’ needs. The size and shape of the summer schools will be decided by school leaders who know best what the most effective summer school will look like for their pupils, allowing them to tailor support for pupils, including those with SEND.
Sir Kevan Collins has also been appointed as the Education Recovery Commissioner and is considering how schools and the system can more effectively target resources and support at pupils in greatest need.
The department will continue to assess the impact of the outbreak and its subsequent COVID-19 recovery plans on all pupils, including those with SEND, to ensure it targets support across the system most effectively.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of implementing a COVID-19 recovery plan for disabled children and their families.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families is a priority for this government, and their educational, physical and mental wellbeing remains central to our cross-government response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
We have provided £40.8 million for the Family Fund in 2020-21 to support over 80,000 families on low incomes raising children with disabilities or serious illnesses. This includes £13.5 million to specifically respond to needs arising from the outbreak.
We have published guidance for children's social care services, making clear that parents or carers of disabled children and young people may continue to access respite care, and have communicated best practice to Directors of Children's Services and local authorities to ensure that as many disabled children and young people as possible can continue to access these services during the COVID-19 outbreak. This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-childrens-social-care-services/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-local-authorities-on-childrens-social-care.
The government has provided £4.6 billion of additional funding in financial year 2020-21 to support councils through the COVID-19 outbreak to respond to local needs, including to deliver services to support vulnerable children.
We have and continue to develop plans for COVID-19 recovery. As part of this, both special schools and alternative provision will be able to access funding to provide summer schools and the National Tutoring Programme, and we recognise the additional costs associated with offering provision to pupils in specialist settings. This means that eligible pupils in special schools, special units in mainstream primary and secondary schools and alternative provision settings will attract a higher rate of the new one-off Recovery Premium funding worth £302 million, as well as funding for summer schools. We have consistently prioritised children who attend specialist settings in our Recovery Premiums to schools by providing additional uplifts both in 2020 and in 2021.
Young people with SEND aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan will be eligible for support via the 16 to 19 Tuition Fund, where they meet the fund criteria. Providers are asked to have regard to the needs of students with SEND when prioritising students that would benefit most from small group tuition. Furthermore, the proposals to support early language and literacy recovery will benefit all children, including those with SEND.
£200 million will be available to all secondary schools, including specialist settings, to deliver face-to-face summer schools. Schools will be able to target provision based on pupils’ needs. The size and shape of the summer schools will be decided by school leaders who know best what the most effective summer school will look like for their pupils, allowing them to tailor support for pupils, including those with SEND.
Sir Kevan Collins has also been appointed as the Education Recovery Commissioner and is considering how schools and the system can more effectively target resources and support at pupils in greatest need.
The department will continue to assess the impact of the outbreak and its subsequent COVID-19 recovery plans on all pupils, including those with SEND, to ensure it targets support across the system most effectively.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Disabled Children’s Partnership's Report entitled The Loneliest Lockdown, what plans his Department has to tackle social isolation among disabled children.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families is a priority for this government, and their educational, physical and mental wellbeing remains central to our cross-government response to the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why education settings have remained open for children and young people with an education, health and care plan throughout periods of national lockdown.
The return to school for all pupils was prioritised due to the significant and proven impact caused by being out of school, including on wellbeing. The support schools provide to their pupils as they return to face-to-face education should include time devoted to supporting wellbeing, which will play a fundamental part in supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing recovery. The expectations for schools in this regard are set out clearly in the main Department for Education guidance to schools, which also signposts further support, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.
We have worked with our partners, including the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), Health Education England, Public Health England and other key voluntary sector organisations to deliver the Wellbeing for Education Return programme, which has provided training and resources to help school staff respond to the wellbeing and mental health needs of pupils. This £8 million government backed programme provided schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and access to resources they need to support children and young people, teachers and parents.
The return to school on 8 March 2021 has been supported with a new £700 million package, which includes a Recovery Premium for state primary, secondary and special schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged students. This will help schools to provide academic and pastoral support for disadvantaged pupils that has been proven most effective in helping them recover from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.
£200 million will be available to all secondary schools, including specialist settings, to deliver face-to-face summer schools. Schools will be able to target provision based on pupils’ needs. The size and shape of the summer schools will be decided by school leaders who know best what the most effective summer school will look like for their pupils, allowing them to tailor support for pupils, including those with SEND.
Additionally, we have expanded the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which has provided healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children since 2018. From 2021, the programme will cover the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays at a cost of up to £220 million. It will be available to children in every local authority in England, building on previous programmes and we are working to ensure that the programme is fully inclusive and accessible for children with SEND.
Sir Kevan Collins has been appointed as the Education Recovery Commissioner and is considering how schools and the system can more effectively target resources and support at pupils in greatest need. Additionally, Dr Alex George was appointed on 4 February as Youth Mental Health Ambassador to advise government and raise the profile of mental health education and wellbeing in schools, colleges and universities. He will use his clinical expertise and personal experience to champion government’s work on children’s and young people’s mental health and shape policy on improving support for young people in schools, colleges and universities.
In the long term, we remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with DHSC and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams for all schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.
The department will continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and its subsequent COVID-19 recovery plans on all pupils, including those with SEND, to ensure it targets support across the system most effectively.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle social isolation in disabled children and their families.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families is a priority for this government, and their educational, physical and mental wellbeing remains central to our cross-government response to the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why education settings have remained open for children and young people with an education, health and care plan throughout periods of national lockdown.
The return to school for all pupils was prioritised due to the significant and proven impact caused by being out of school, including on wellbeing. The support schools provide to their pupils as they return to face-to-face education should include time devoted to supporting wellbeing, which will play a fundamental part in supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing recovery. The expectations for schools in this regard are set out clearly in the main Department for Education guidance to schools, which also signposts further support, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.
We have worked with our partners, including the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), Health Education England, Public Health England and other key voluntary sector organisations to deliver the Wellbeing for Education Return programme, which has provided training and resources to help school staff respond to the wellbeing and mental health needs of pupils. This £8 million government backed programme provided schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and access to resources they need to support children and young people, teachers and parents.
The return to school on 8 March 2021 has been supported with a new £700 million package, which includes a Recovery Premium for state primary, secondary and special schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged students. This will help schools to provide academic and pastoral support for disadvantaged pupils that has been proven most effective in helping them recover from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.
£200 million will be available to all secondary schools, including specialist settings, to deliver face-to-face summer schools. Schools will be able to target provision based on pupils’ needs. The size and shape of the summer schools will be decided by school leaders who know best what the most effective summer school will look like for their pupils, allowing them to tailor support for pupils, including those with SEND.
Additionally, we have expanded the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which has provided healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children since 2018. From 2021, the programme will cover the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays at a cost of up to £220 million. It will be available to children in every local authority in England, building on previous programmes and we are working to ensure that the programme is fully inclusive and accessible for children with SEND.
Sir Kevan Collins has been appointed as the Education Recovery Commissioner and is considering how schools and the system can more effectively target resources and support at pupils in greatest need. Additionally, Dr Alex George was appointed on 4 February as Youth Mental Health Ambassador to advise government and raise the profile of mental health education and wellbeing in schools, colleges and universities. He will use his clinical expertise and personal experience to champion government’s work on children’s and young people’s mental health and shape policy on improving support for young people in schools, colleges and universities.
In the long term, we remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with DHSC and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams for all schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.
The department will continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and its subsequent COVID-19 recovery plans on all pupils, including those with SEND, to ensure it targets support across the system most effectively.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department has spent to date on the delivery of the proposals in the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health green paper.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Department for Education has spent £9.2 million to date on the delivery of our specific commitments outlined in the government’s 2018 response to ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health: A Green Paper’. This includes £2.6 million for supporting the roll-out of new mental health support teams, the national roll-out (and adaptation during the COVID-19 outbreak) of the Link Programme, improving joint working between local health and education partners, and developing a training offer for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges.
In response to the pressures of the COVID-19 outbreak, the government prioritised bespoke training and support to meet the immediate challenges that schools and colleges were facing in supporting children and young people. The department has therefore also spent £6.6 million contributing to the Wellbeing for Education Return programme alongside the Department for Health and Social Care, providing training and support to schools and colleges with their immediate approach to wellbeing and mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme has funded local experts to provide training, advice and resources for schools and further education (FE) providers to help support the wellbeing, resilience and recovery of pupils and students, parents and carers and staff in light of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown.
Over 90% of local authority areas in England have reported that they are delivering additional training and support into local schools and FE providers because of the Wellbeing for Education Return funding, and have been continuing to do so remotely. Nationally, information indicates that more than 15,000 education settings are being offered additional training and support. We remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with DHSC and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams for all schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.
The support that schools and FE providers provide to their pupils as they return to face-to-face education should include time devoted to supporting mental health and wellbeing, which will play a fundamental part in supporting children and young people’s recovery. The £700 million package includes a new one-off Recovery Premium for state primary, secondary and special schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged students. This will help schools and FE providers to provide their disadvantaged pupils with a one-off boost to the academic and pastoral support that has been proved most effective in helping them recover from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. It can be used for mental health and wellbeing support. The expectations for schools in this regard are set out clearly in the department’s guidance to schools, which also signposts further support: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.
This funding follows our £1 billion COVID-19 catch-up package, which includes £650 million shared across early years, schools and 16-19 providers over the 2020/21 academic year to support education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. This is already being used by schools to put in place additional mental health and wellbeing and other support.
We have also recently announced a £79 million boost to children and young people’s mental health support, including through mental health support teams. The support teams provide early intervention on mental health and emotional wellbeing issues in schools and colleges, supporting them with their wider approach and liaison with health services. The teams will grow from the 59 set up by last spring to around 400 by April 2023, supporting nearly 3 million children. This increase means that millions of children and young people will have access to significantly expanded mental health services.
As well as providing additional COVID-19 specific mental health advice and support, our relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education curriculum includes mental health and wellbeing. We have online training materials and implementation guides, as well as case studies, which gives inclusive advice to schools and staff on how best to support pupils’ mental health: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing.
The department has convened its Mental Health in Education Action Group to look at the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and staff in nurseries, schools, colleges, and universities. It is bringing together partners to take additional action to support mental wellbeing of children and young people with the return to education settings and with transitions between education settings in September 2021. This will include looking at what more we can do to help schools to make the most effective use of the recovery premium to support mental health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much covid-19 related funding per pupil has been provided to schools in each region since March 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has provided a range of funding and support to schools since March 2020, to help with the challenges of responding to COVID-19. This includes making available:
Some of this has been allocated on a per pupil basis and can be reported on a regional basis.
The £650 million Catch-up Premium has been allocated on the basis of £80 per pupil in mainstream schools, and £240 per pupil in special schools, special educational needs units, pupil referral units and hospital schools. The allocations can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-catch-up-premium-provisional-allocations.
Other allocations will be published shortly. This includes the Recovery Premium, and the 16-19 tuition fund (of which £10 million has been allocated to schools with sixth forms and schools for 16 to 19 year olds) which is distributed based on the number of students who have not achieved GCSE grade 4 in English and/or maths.
Other forms of support listed above have been provided on a claims basis for specific costs, delivered through central programmes or on the basis of need.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of digital exclusion on the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department recognised that a lack of digital access posed a risk to the efficacy of remote education. In response, we invested over £400 million to support access to remote education as an injection of support to minimise digital exclusion. To date, over 1.2 million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and further education (FE) colleges. We have also provided support to over 100,000 families to get online by providing uplifts in mobile data and 4G wireless routers.
Until 8 March, the Department expected all primary schools, secondary schools and FE colleges in England to provide remote education for the majority of their pupils and students, with the exception of vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers, who were able to attend school or FE colleges in person. Where vulnerable children and young people and children of critical workers did not attend school or FE colleges, we expected schools and FE colleges to provide them with remote education.
During this period, we understood that some pupils may face difficulty engaging in remote education and may be considered to be vulnerable children and young people and therefore would have been eligible to attend on-site provision. It was for the child’s school or local authority to make this decision. The decision would have been based on the needs of the child and their family, and a range of other factors, as set out in the guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision#vulnerable-children-and-young-people.
As of 8 March, attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age. However, schools affected by the remote education temporary continuity direction are still required to provide remote education for pupils where their attendance would be contrary to government guidance or legislation around COVID-19. This includes, for example, where such guidance means that a class, group, or small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or that clinically extremely vulnerable children need to shield.
Where pupils and students continue to experience barriers to digital remote education, we expect schools and FE colleges to work to overcome these barriers. This could include distributing school or FE college-owned laptops or supplementing digital provision with different forms of remote education such as printed resources or textbooks. This should be supplemented with other forms of communication to keep pupils and students on track or answer questions about work. These expectations were also in place across the period of restricted attendance on-site.
The Department’s research on lost learning has produced interim findings based on more than 400,000 Renaissance Learning reading and maths assessments taken in the first Autumn half-term of 2020-21.
The analysis uses historic test scores to predict what each pupil would have achieved on the test in Autumn 2020 had the COVID-19 disruption not occurred, based on that pupil’s test score in the previous years. The difference between the actual Autumn 2020 score and their predicted score is an estimate of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak – presented here in terms of ‘months of progress’.
The gap between disadvantaged pupils and others, measured using the disadvantage gap index, narrowed by 13% at Key Stage 2 and 9% at Key Stage 4 between 2011 and 2019.
Through our existing grant funding partnership with Nesta, the Department launched an evaluation programme in Autumn 2020, the EdTech R&D Programme, to understand the impact of technology use in education, particularly the impact and disparity between advantaged and disadvantaged students in attainment and outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The programme includes the evaluation of six remote education tools being used in schools and colleges in England. The first evaluation cycle is underway, with iterations throughout the life of the programme. A final report with key findings on using remote education tools effectively for all students, with particular recommendations for disadvantaged students, will also be shared with the wider sector by December 2021.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many digital devices have been allocated to disadvantaged pupils during national restrictions since March 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is providing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care. We are making available 1.3 million laptops and tablets to schools, colleges, trusts and local authorities, supporting disadvantaged children and young people who would not otherwise have access to a digital device.
As of 15 March 2021, over 1.2 million laptops and tablets have been delivered. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/laptops-and-tablets-progress-data-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. The Department has been publishing this data every week during term time, and the next publication will be Tuesday 23 March.
Once received, the laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts, local authorities or further education providers, which they can lend to children and young people who need them and are intended to enable schools to provide remote education. In the longer term, the Department expects that schools and colleges will continue to make effective use of the devices they have received.
Through the Department’s grant funded, Digital Platforms Programme, over 5,000 schools are now accessing either a Google or Microsoft digital platform for remote learning. Microsoft and Google platforms were chosen as they are free to use to the education sector and had the unified technology and support to set up and deliver effective remote education provision. The primary reason for selecting the Microsoft and Google platforms was that they are free to use to the education sector. Both platforms also have features and functionalities that are designed to be used for communication and collaboration that can assist teachers, pupils and students in remote education. The Department plans to examine the broader effect of the interventions we have put in place to support children and young people to continue their education during the COVID-19 outbreak.
From the 8 March, attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age. Schools affected by the remote education temporary continuity direction are still required to provide remote education for pupils where their attendance would be contrary to government guidance or legislation around COVID-19. This includes, for example, where such guidance means that a class, group, or small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or that clinically extremely vulnerable children need to shield.
Where needed, schools are expected to offer pupils three to five hours of remote education. This includes either recorded or live direct teaching alongside time for pupils to work independently to complete assignments that have been set.
The Department has recently updated guidance and resources for schools around safeguarding and delivery of remote education, which can be accessed via Get Help with Remote Education available here: https://get-help-with-remote-education.education.gov.uk/safeguarding.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have used (a) allocated devices, and (b) digital platforms to deliver teaching; and what platforms schools have used to deliver online teaching.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is providing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care. We are making available 1.3 million laptops and tablets to schools, colleges, trusts and local authorities, supporting disadvantaged children and young people who would not otherwise have access to a digital device.
As of 15 March 2021, over 1.2 million laptops and tablets have been delivered. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/laptops-and-tablets-progress-data-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. The Department has been publishing this data every week during term time, and the next publication will be Tuesday 23 March.
Once received, the laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts, local authorities or further education providers, which they can lend to children and young people who need them and are intended to enable schools to provide remote education. In the longer term, the Department expects that schools and colleges will continue to make effective use of the devices they have received.
Through the Department’s grant funded, Digital Platforms Programme, over 5,000 schools are now accessing either a Google or Microsoft digital platform for remote learning. Microsoft and Google platforms were chosen as they are free to use to the education sector and had the unified technology and support to set up and deliver effective remote education provision. The primary reason for selecting the Microsoft and Google platforms was that they are free to use to the education sector. Both platforms also have features and functionalities that are designed to be used for communication and collaboration that can assist teachers, pupils and students in remote education. The Department plans to examine the broader effect of the interventions we have put in place to support children and young people to continue their education during the COVID-19 outbreak.
From the 8 March, attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age. Schools affected by the remote education temporary continuity direction are still required to provide remote education for pupils where their attendance would be contrary to government guidance or legislation around COVID-19. This includes, for example, where such guidance means that a class, group, or small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or that clinically extremely vulnerable children need to shield.
Where needed, schools are expected to offer pupils three to five hours of remote education. This includes either recorded or live direct teaching alongside time for pupils to work independently to complete assignments that have been set.
The Department has recently updated guidance and resources for schools around safeguarding and delivery of remote education, which can be accessed via Get Help with Remote Education available here: https://get-help-with-remote-education.education.gov.uk/safeguarding.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of continuing the scheme of providing disadvantaged pupils with devices and other technology post-lockdown.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is providing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care. We are making available 1.3 million laptops and tablets to schools, colleges, trusts and local authorities, supporting disadvantaged children and young people who would not otherwise have access to a digital device.
As of 15 March 2021, over 1.2 million laptops and tablets have been delivered. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/laptops-and-tablets-progress-data-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. The Department has been publishing this data every week during term time, and the next publication will be Tuesday 23 March.
Once received, the laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts, local authorities or further education providers, which they can lend to children and young people who need them and are intended to enable schools to provide remote education. In the longer term, the Department expects that schools and colleges will continue to make effective use of the devices they have received.
Through the Department’s grant funded, Digital Platforms Programme, over 5,000 schools are now accessing either a Google or Microsoft digital platform for remote learning. Microsoft and Google platforms were chosen as they are free to use to the education sector and had the unified technology and support to set up and deliver effective remote education provision. The primary reason for selecting the Microsoft and Google platforms was that they are free to use to the education sector. Both platforms also have features and functionalities that are designed to be used for communication and collaboration that can assist teachers, pupils and students in remote education. The Department plans to examine the broader effect of the interventions we have put in place to support children and young people to continue their education during the COVID-19 outbreak.
From the 8 March, attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age. Schools affected by the remote education temporary continuity direction are still required to provide remote education for pupils where their attendance would be contrary to government guidance or legislation around COVID-19. This includes, for example, where such guidance means that a class, group, or small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or that clinically extremely vulnerable children need to shield.
Where needed, schools are expected to offer pupils three to five hours of remote education. This includes either recorded or live direct teaching alongside time for pupils to work independently to complete assignments that have been set.
The Department has recently updated guidance and resources for schools around safeguarding and delivery of remote education, which can be accessed via Get Help with Remote Education available here: https://get-help-with-remote-education.education.gov.uk/safeguarding.