Covid-19 device provision: calculation data

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department for Education,

Under the FOI Act 2000, please provide the data and information used in the calculation of laptop / device allocations to schools / educational settings in England in 2020.

This is the data behind the criteria used in the calculation based on, but not only

1. the number of children in years 3 to 11 free school meals data
2. an estimate of the number of devices a school already has

Please provide all the data (numbers and supporting information) and the calculation (algorithm or calculation formulae) as well as including its sources, such as Teacher Tapp, or any others.

With reference from: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov...

This should be provided in a digital format perhaps as excel, but in any available format without conversion into excel is also fine.

Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,

Jen Persson

MINISTERS, Department for Education

1 Attachment

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education. If you are
contacting us about coronavirus (COVID-19) you can find advice and
guidance on [1]GOV.UK. This includes [2]guidance for educational settings
in England. You can also contact our coronavirus helpline on 0800 046
8687. Lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and weekends 10am to
4pm.

For emails and other written enquiries you will usually receive a reply
within 15 working days. You can find out how the department processes your
personal information by reading our [3]Privacy Notice.

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References

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https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
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ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

 

Dear  Jen Persson 

 

Thank you for your recent enquiry which was received on 31 October.
A reply will be sent to you as soon as possible. For information; the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses should
be sent within 20 working days as you are requesting information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your correspondence has been allocated
reference number 2020-0061534. 

Department for Education

Ministerial and Public Communications Division

Tel: 0370 000 2288

Web: 

[1]https://www.education.gov.uk
Twitter: [2]https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: [3]https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

 

 

 

 

References

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1. https://www.education.gov.uk/
2. https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
3. https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

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Dear Jen,
 
Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 31
October 2020.
You requested:
“Under the FOI Act 2000, please provide the data and information used in
the calculation of laptop / device allocations to schools / educational
settings in England in 2020.
This is the data behind the criteria used in the calculation based on, but
not only
1. the number of children in years 3 to 11 free school meals data 2. an
estimate of the number of devices a school already has
Please provide all the data (numbers and supporting information) and the
calculation (algorithm or calculation formulae) as well as including its
sources, such as Teacher Tapp, or any others.
With reference from:
[1]https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov...
This should be provided in a digital format perhaps as excel, but in any
available format without conversion into excel is also fine.”
I am dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

For school children, the Department for Education estimates the number of
children who may need access to a device by using free school meals (FSM)
eligibility levels, alongside assumptions about what devices schools may
choose to distribute.

There are 1,050,420 children eligible for FSM in years 3-11[2]^^[1]. We
remove from this calculation the pupils who received devices in the summer
term, including Children with a Social Worker (also known as Children in
Need (CIN)), Care Leavers and pupils currently in Year 11. Survey data
suggests that there are fewer children without access to a device than
there are FSM children so simply using FSM does not give an accurate
picture of device access requirements.
The Department uses this FSM data alongside assumptions that private
device need will be met to some extent by the device endowments of schools
and colleges.
To construct this estimate, we have used the BESA ICT Survey 2019 data on
the average number of laptops and tablets in primary and secondary schools
and assumed that these are distributed between teachers and students.
This survey identifies that primary schools have an average of 27.2
Tablets and 49.1 Laptops, and Secondary schools have an average of 87.3
Tablets and 194.6 Laptops. We have also used The Teacher Tapp survey
(March 2020) which shows the proportion of teachers provided with a device
by their school. The survey found that 45% of primary school teachers and
29% of secondary school teachers were provided a laptop by the school.
We use this data to assume that the first devices in schools will go to
teachers and remove devices equivalent to this percentage of teachers in
an average school from the average number of devices in primary and
secondary schools, on the basis that some of these devices will go to
teachers. This produces an assumption based on this data that 24.5% of
pupils in primary and 27.1% of pupils in secondary would receive a device
from their school.
For the allocations provided this term, the allocation calculator can be
summarised as below, where FSM not CIN = Children flagged as eligible for
FSM but not Children with a Social worker in the Spring 2020 school
census.
Where a school has pupils in Years 3 - 6:
[FSM not CIN]*[1-24.5%] = Initial Allocation
Where a school has pupils in Years 7 - 10:
[FSM not CIN]*[1-27.1%] = Initial Allocation
Where schools need additional devices for disadvantaged children, they
contact the Department for Education’s service team at [3][email address]
and additional devices above their allocation are provided.
 
Get Help with Technology During the Coronavirus Pandemic
 

────────────────────────

[4]^^[1] Includes state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special
schools, non-maintained special schools and pupil referral units. Does not
include independent schools.

References

Visible links
1. https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov...
2. file:///tmp/foiextract20231215-1455658-ppc1cs#_ftn1
3. mailto:[email%20address]
4. file:///tmp/foiextract20231215-1455658-ppc1cs#_ftnref1

Dear Department for Education,

Thank you for the FOI reply. However it did not provide the information requested.

“Please provide all the data (numbers and supporting information) and the calculation (algorithm or calculation formulae) as well as including its sources, such as Teacher Tapp, or any others.”

While the reply provided an explanation, it provided no data. Please can you provide the data, if held.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Jen Persson

MINISTERS, Department for Education

1 Attachment

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education. If you are
contacting us about coronavirus (COVID-19) you can find advice and
guidance on [1]GOV.UK. This includes [2]guidance for educational settings
in England. You can also contact our coronavirus helpline on 0800 046
8687. Lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and weekends 10am to
4pm.

For emails and other written enquiries you will usually receive a reply
within 15 working days. You can find out how the department processes your
personal information by reading our [3]Privacy Notice.

cid:image001.jpg@01D42E43.58989C30

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...
https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

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Dear Jen 
 
Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 8
December 2020.

You requested:  “Thank you for the FOI reply. However it did not provide
the information requested. “Please provide all the data (numbers and
supporting information) and the calculation (algorithm or calculation
formulae) as well as including its sources, such as Teacher Tapp, or any
others.” While the reply provided an explanation, it provided no data.
Please can you provide the data, if held. Thank you for your
consideration. Sincerely, Jen Persson”

I am dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and a copy of the information which can be disclosed is enclosed. 

I am enclosing a spreadsheet which details at school level the number of
children eligible for free school meals in years 3-11[1][1] and an
estimate of how many devices a school would need. This is an initial
estimate and may not reflect the final number of laptops and tablets a
school receives from the Department. Where schools need additional
devices, in order to support disadvantaged children, they are able to
contact the Department for Education’s service team and evidence the
additional need they have identified, this will not be reflected in the
attached data.

Where a new school has been created, who have not reported through the
January 2019 School’s Census[2][2], we have worked with the school to
identify an estimate of device need, this will not be reflected in the
attached data as they were not included in our initial modelling.
To construct our estimate of how many children needed access to devices,
we have used the BESA ICT Survey 2019 data on the average number of
laptops and tablets in primary and secondary schools and assumed that
these are distributed between teachers and students. 
This survey identifies that primary schools have an average of 27.2
Tablets and 49.1 Laptops, and Secondary schools have an average of 87.3
Tablets and 194.6 Laptops. The underlying data is privately held.
We have also used The Teacher Tapp survey (March 2020) which shows the
proportion of teachers provided with a device by their school. The survey
found that 45% of primary school teachers and 29% of secondary school
teachers were provided a laptop by the school. Again, the underlying data
is privately held.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should
make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar
months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an
independent review panel, who were not involved in the original
consideration of your request.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the
Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.
 
Gel Help with Technology 
 
 

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[3][1] Includes state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special
schools, non-maintained special schools and pupil referral units. Does not
include independent schools.
[4][2] Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics, Jan 2019

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/foiextract20231215-1455658-l358kn#_ftn1
2. file:///tmp/foiextract20231215-1455658-l358kn#_ftn2
3. file:///tmp/foiextract20231215-1455658-l358kn#_ftnref1
4. file:///tmp/foiextract20231215-1455658-l358kn#_ftnref2