Question reference: S5W-29172
- Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 19 May 2020
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Current status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what additional support and funding it has provided to ensure that all school pupils have access to remote learning resources and educational support during the COVID-19 outbreak, and what the uptake of additional support has been, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Due to the ongoing challenges currently facing schools and local authorities I have relaxed the guidance on Attainment Scotland Funding streams to support Local Authorities in deploying this funding flexibly to best support vulnerable children from the most deprived backgrounds. There are already a number of such examples, including the provision of laptops and tablets to support digital learning at home, purchase and delivery of books and other learning material to children at home, providing transport to enable some learners to attend LA Hubs, and supporting home-school link workers to maintain regular contact with children.
We recognise that digital exclusion is a particular issue for some of our most disadvantaged learners. To help ensure as many children and young people as possible are able to connect with their schools, continue their learning, access support and engage with their peers, we are investing an initial £9 million which will provide devices and connectivity for 25,000 learners across Scotland. This is the first phase of our £30 million commitment to support digital inclusion for children and young people, which we are working closely with local authority partners to deliver.