The Department for Education has provided nearly two million electronic devices to children and young people.

The figures, revealed in a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request and analysed by the Parliament Street think tank, outline the number of laptops, tablets and phones purchased by the department over the past three years, for staff, teachers, and students during the era of remote learning over the pandemic.

It has supplied a total of 1,939,320 electronic devices, including laptops, tablets and mobile phones, to DfE staff, as well as students, delivered via the Get Help with Technology Programme.

The greatest investment in devices came between July 2020 and June 2021, with 1,122,308 devices purchased, 1,114,789 of which were for the GHwT Programme.

Cybersecurity expert Achi Lewis, area vice president EMEA of Absolute Software, commented: “It is fantastic to see the Department for Education supplying not only their staff with new devices, but helping to deliver new technological equipment to classrooms across the UK in order to help with education and staying online, especially throughout the difficulties of the pandemic.”

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