Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 23 November 2022.
Minister, as I am sure you are aware, disadvantaged children face a myriad of challenges that do not necessarily exist for most people. One such disadvantage is the availability of internet and appropriate devices at home. The Children's Commissioner for Wales has estimated that a third to perhaps even half of children do not have access to appropriate devices, and that, even when these have been made available, there is still the issue that households on low incomes are less likely to have internet connections. This is particularly true for rural communities, where sufficient broadband bandwidth is extremely limited, and therefore not really worth purchasing. Given the fact that home learning has become a tool adopted by schools to manage teaching during COVID lockdown—and I'm aware that many, if not almost all, schools have kept the system in place to continue to help provide additional learning support—what steps is the Welsh Government taking to work in partnership with local authorities and schools to help ensure sufficient devices with internet access are available for low-income households with school-age children? Thank you.