A government promise, at the start of the pandemic to provide children leaving care, children with a social worker, and disadvantaged children in year 10 ahead of GCSEs next year, has only now been fulfilled in North Yorkshire County Council.
The county council has now received 830 laptops for children and young people with a social worker which are currently being set up and will be distributed over the next couple of weeks. The council has ordered a further 159 computers for disadvantaged year 10 pupils which will be distributed as soon as possible.
Cllr Geoff Webber, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on North Yorkshire County Council, said:
The Education Secretary announced this package on 19th April and it will be close to 3 months delay before we see anything practical to support these children’s education. The government has never stopped preaching about the importance of uninterrupted education, particularly to vulnerable children in these categories, and this delay is entirely unacceptable.
This is yet another symptom of just how unprepared we were for an event like this. A little less concentration on power politics and a little more on practical government would have served us all better.
