Home Access take-up
Monday, 08 February 2010
More than 130,000 families have applied for free laptops and broadband internet access for their kids, just three weeks after the Government launched the scheme. |
Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, launched the Home Access programme last month, and pledged that 270,000 laptops would be distributed by the March 2011 deadline on a first-come, first-served basis. Each low-income family whose application is given the green light gets a Barclaycard, which can be used for a one-off transaction worth £528 specifically to buy the equipment at an approved supplier.
To date, 131,938 application packs have been requested and 14,671 filled in and returned, with 5,309 applications having been approved. London has seen the highest number of approved applications so far (1,289), followed by the North West (789), East of England (655) and West Midlands (591).
The scheme is part of a major drive to close the digital and educational divide between rich and poor and help keep parents in touch with their child's progress and work at school. Studies show that 81 per cent of parents think having internet access at home has helped this and increased parental engagement is proven to boost attainment at school.
The Government is currently legislating to make reporting to parents online by 2012 a legal guarantee in the Children, Schools and Families Bill. Home Access computers are also loaded with a suite of software to support literacy and numeracy for all the family.
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