Devices and 4G Wireless Routers Data as of 22 December Ad-hoc notice – laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers for disadvantaged and vulnerable children: by academy trust and local authority December 2020 Devices and 4G Wireless Routers Data Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 Progress data for devices ............................................................................................. 4 Definitions .................................................................................................................... 5 Data Quality ................................................................................................................. 6 Annex A: Devices delivered by LA and Trust ............................................................... 7 Get laptops and tablets for children who cannot attend school due to coronavirus (COVID-19) and internet access for vulnerable and disadvantaged children Introduction For the 2020 to 2021 academic year, the Department for Education (DfE) is providing laptops and tablets to schools, academy trusts (trusts) and local authorities (LAs) to support children access remote education during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Laptops and tablets have been made available, if there is no existing access to a device, for: • disadvantaged children in years 3 to 11 whose face-to-face education is disrupted • disadvantaged children in any year group who have been advised to shield because they (or someone they live with) are clinically extremely vulnerable • disadvantaged children in any year group attending a hospital school • disadvantaged 14 to 16-year-olds enrolled for Key Stage 4 at sixth-form colleges and whose face-to-face education is disrupted The number of devices available to order through the Get help with technology service reflects the number of laptops and tablets DfE estimates are needed by each school or college. This calculation is based on free school meals data and an estimate of the number of devices a school or college already has and private device ownership. If a school, trust or LA requires additional devices, they can contact to the Department and more devices can be made available. These devices are in addition to those DfE provided during the 2020 summer term to LAs and trusts for children, families and young adults most in need. The DfE does not hold centrally recorded information on the onward distribution to families and children. DfE has advised that they are to be used to support disadvantaged children who are otherwise unable to access remote education. Examples of this include disadvantaged children: • with no digital devices in their household • whose only available device is a smartphone • with a single device in their household that’s being shared with more than one other family member DfE is also giving schools 4G wireless routers that they can lend to disadvantaged children in the event of disruption to face-to-face education. This is in addition to routers dispatched to local authorities and academy trusts in the summer 2020 term. 3 In partnership with mobile network operators, DfE is providing access to free additional mobile data for the academic year. Schools can request free mobile data uplifts via the Get Help with Technology service, when they experience disruption to face-to-face education or for clinically extremely vulnerable children. DfE is currently expanding this offer to all schools. Data from the small-scale pilot is included in this release. From June to September 2020, DfE ran a pilot in partnership with BT, to provide children and young people free access to a BT wifi hotspot until 31 December 2020. This pilot has now ended and no further vouchers were released since our last publication. This publication reports how many devices and 4G wireless routers have been delivered or dispatched to LAs, trusts schools and colleges. For information about how many devices and 4G wireless routers were delivered to local authorities and academy trusts in the summer 2020 term please see previous publication here. Progress data for devices Table 1: Devices delivered since start of scheme Description Data Devices (laptops and tablets) delivered 562,421 or dispatched to LAs, trusts, schools and colleges (as of 18th December) For the 2020 to 2021 academic year, the first devices were ordered on 10th September, and the first devices were dispatched on 10th September. Table 2: Progress data for 2020 to 2021 academic year Description Data Devices (laptops and tablets) delivered 341,869 or dispatched to schools and colleges (as of 18th December) To see how many devices have been delivered or dispatched by LA or academy trust please see Annex A. Progress data for internet connectivity Table 3: 4G routers delivered since start of scheme Description Data 4 4G wireless routers delivered or 54,561 dispatched to schools and colleges (as of 18th December) Table 4: Internet connectivity solutions progress data: pilot only Description Data Number of Mobile Network Operator 205 requests through pilot (as of 22nd October) Number of BT Wifi vouchers allocated 9,930 through pilot (as of 22nd October) BT Wifi vouchers provide access to BT Wifi hotspots until the end of December 2020. The BT Wifi vouchers pilot has now concluded. The mobile network operator programme is being rolled out to all schools. Definitions Definition Description Devices A device is a laptop or tablet along with a protective sleeve and delivered or software/operating licences. dispatched Delivered or dispatched means the device has been dispatched from the storage facility or is in transit awaiting delivery on a date specified by the recipient. Shipments are running on a next business day delivery basis and two redelivery attempts are made before the delivery is returned. 4G wireless This refers to a unit which provides mobile internet access routers delivered through a secure SIM. or dispatched Delivered or dispatched means the 4G wireless routers has been dispatched from the storage facility or is in transit awaiting delivery on a date specified by the recipient. Shipments are running on a next business day delivery basis and two redelivery attempts are made before the delivery is returned. Mobile Network This refers to a request for an increase in mobile data allowance Operator raised by a Local Authority or Trust and passed to DfE. Through requests our pilot Mobile Network Operators have been provided this information and facilitated increases to mobile data allowances for their customers. BT Wifi This refers to a BT wifi “voucher” issued to a LA or Trust for vouchers issued onward distribution to a child or young person through our pilot. The vouchers enable users to log on to BT’s public wifi hotspots. 5 The Department for Education do not collect delivery receipt data for devices or 4G wireless routers. The cost of collecting this data, which would require tracking a large network of different couriers that use different systems, would outweigh the benefits. The data reported here is not representative of devices reaching children. From the point of delivery to the school or college, that school or college is responsible for distributing the devices to disadvantaged children. Data Quality This data is produced by Computacenter on behalf of the Department for Education. Schools and Colleges place their orders in an order management system which is supported by a SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform. Quality checks operate every day within the ERP platform. There have been no errors in the transactional volume data reported to date. If a data error is reported, this would lead to a full investigation using Computacenter’s quality management system, and would be disclosed immediately to the Department for Education. 6 Annex A: Devices delivered by LA and Trust Table 3: Devices (laptops and tablets) delivered or dispatched to LAs or directly to LA-maintained schools in 2020 to 2021 academic year. Local Authority Devices Barking and Dagenham 623 Barnet 992 Barnsley 396 Bath and North East Somerset 59 Bedford 132 Bexley 158 Birmingham 7,908 Blackburn with Darwen 1,230 Blackpool 121 Bolton 1,705 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 91 Bracknell Forest 183 Bradford 1,413 Brent 721 Brighton and Hove 808 Bristol, City of 701 Bromley 16 Buckinghamshire 438 Bury 865 Calderdale 491 Cambridgeshire 518 Camden 1,981 Central Bedfordshire 221 Cheshire East 473 Cheshire West and Chester 870 City of London 14 Cornwall 369 County Durham 1,808 Coventry 1,075 Croydon 1,033 Cumbria 555 Darlington 46 Derby 489 Derbyshire 1,357 Devon 327 Doncaster 347 Dorset 241 Dudley 968 Ealing 2,055 East Riding of Yorkshire 1,255 East Sussex 453 Enfield 1,271 7 Essex 908 Gateshead 614 Gloucestershire 649 Greenwich 984 Hackney 1,747 Halton 842 Hammersmith and Fulham 299 Hampshire 1,669 Haringey 1,058 Harrow 502 Hartlepool 926 Havering 749 Herefordshire, County of 75 Hertfordshire 2,641 Hillingdon 777 Hounslow 777 Isle of Wight 91 Islington 846 Kensington and Chelsea 242 Kent 2,963 Kingston upon Hull, City of 47 Kingston upon Thames 351 Kirklees 3,857 Knowsley 1,081 Lambeth 1,449 Lancashire 5,433 Leeds 3,167 Leicester 1,845 Leicestershire 284 Lewisham 1,252 Lincolnshire 554 Liverpool 5,114 Luton 1,297 Manchester 3,026 Medway 241 Merton 682 Middlesbrough 313 Milton Keynes 737 Newcastle upon Tyne 690 Newham 1,952 Norfolk 598 North East Lincolnshire 10 North Lincolnshire 392 North Somerset 31 North Tyneside