Agenda item

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 October 2020 were agreed as a correct record to be signed by the Chair, subject to the following amendment.

Councillors Brown, Crathorne, Huntington, Jopling and Robinson were present as Members of the Adult Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Matters arising

Co-opted Member R Evans asked for an update regarding the number of laptops supplied to children via the DfE scheme and whether there was any information to compare the figures to other local authorities.

The Head of Education and Skills confirmed that during the first phase of the scheme, in June 2020, Durham received 1700 devices and 710 were issued to children with a social worker or disadvantaged children and the Council were able to support the vast majority.  The overall National allocation at this time was 220000 devices.

With regards to the second phase, Durham maintained schools were issued with 1888 devices, however Academies received laptops direct and the overall allocation was 4600-4700 devices, meaning there was still more to distribute – mainly to Primary Schools as Secondary Schools had been the main priority.  In total the DfE had issued 342000 laptops to maintained schools and academies.

Schools had recently issued a survey to ensure that all children in Durham had sufficient equipment to access remote learning and the closing date was 22 January.