Telecoms support for remote education, connectivity and digital skills
The UK telecommunications sector has announced a raft of supportive measures for disadvantaged children and young people, as the majority of the British population enters a new lockdown.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the latest restrictions for England on Monday 4 January, instructing people to stay at home. A key tenet of the new measures is the closure of English schools, with similar school closures and remote education arrangements in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Connectivity Support
To ensure disadvantaged students can access virtual lessons and remote educational resources, a number of UK telecoms providers have pledged their support to children and schools across the country.
Three, Smarty, Virgin Mobile, EE, Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile have signed up to the Department for Education’s Help with Technology programme, enabling schools and local authorities to request mobile data for children without a fixed connection at home, or unable to afford the additional data for devices. The programme also offers 4G wireless routers as an alternative to the data offer. Connectivity needs are also being met by 350,000 free data SIMS from Vodafone through its schools.connected campaign and Virgin Media’s tailored broadband packages to help those facing financial difficulty. Vodafone is supporting small businesses as well, with a free broadband offer to all small businesses, including its existing customers. Families in over 30 local authority areas that are struggling with remote learning due to poor or no internet will be offered the chance to have a high speed connection installed with no usage charges by Hyperoptic until the end of the summer term.
The support pledged by the UK’s telecoms networks and providers at the start of 2021 echo many of the existing measures offered at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, industry agreed a set of commitments with government and Ofcom to support and protect vulnerable consumers, such as help with bills and increased data allowances.
Support was given to frontline NHS staff who were offered the mobile data access, voice calls and text they need, at no extra cost, on their personal mobiles used for work purposes. Providers also gave their customers free access to health information websites such as nhs.uk.
Devices and content
For those without devices, DfE has pledged to deliver one million laptops and tablets to schoolchildren by Easter, and children will be able to access the BBC’s “biggest education offer in its history” across multiple platforms like Bitesize Daily from Monday 11 January. This builds on the continued support provided to vulnerable and disadvantaged young people by supplying digital devices and internet access. 560,000 devices have been provided so far—the outcome of efforts by Government and the tech industry in partnership to deliver rapid infrastructure transformation. Schools, educators, and parents must be given the right tools to ensure young people are safe online and able to continue their education while at home. To tackle the digital divide, 2020 also saw initiatives like Vodafone and Barnado’s ‘The Great British Tech Appeal’, BT’s Skills for Tomorrow training resource and Top Tips for Tech with ITV.
While these measures are as welcome in the new year as they were in 2020, it is clear more needs to be done to tackle the digital divide and ensure that every child in the UK can successfully learn and thrive in their homes. And while these efforts go a long way, we know that there is more urgently needed and we will be working with Government, the tech sector and education providers to explore how to target this support.
Jo O'Riordan
Jo O'Riordan
Jo leads the work of the UK SPF, the sounding board to government and Ofcom on medium to long-term spectrum issues in the UK and supports the delivery of the Communication Infrastructure Programme.
Prior to her appointment in 2018 Jo held positions at Islington Council, the Industry and Parliament Trust, Inside Government, and most recently at Smart Energy GB in policy and public affairs role. Here Jo predominately oversaw the organisations engagement with MPs and local government alongside external speaking opportunities.
Outside of work Jo likes spending as much time as possible with her dog Fudge, as well as cooking, watching live comedy, and running (but not that far or that fast).
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 020 7331 2191
- Twitter:
- @JTORiordan
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jooriordan/
Sophie James
Sophie James
Sophie James is the Programme Manager, Communications Infrastructure and Services, at techUK.
Sophie was promoted to Manager having been Programme Assistant across a variety of areas including the Broadband Stakeholder Group, Central Government, Financial Services and Communications Infrastructure programmes, supporting each team with administrative and event support, research and communications.
Prior to joining techUK, Sophie completed a masters in Film Studies at University College London. She has previously worked as a marketing manager for a design and fabrication company, and has project coordination experience in the graphic design and music industries.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 020 7331 2038
Julia Ofori-Addo
Julia Ofori-Addo
Julia Ofori-Addo supports the Broadband Stakeholder Group, Central Government, Financial Services and Communications Infrastructure with administrative and event support, research and communication.
Julia is bilingual – German and English native. Prior to joining techUK, Julia worked as an IT Team Administrator at Interxion Ltd (data center) supporting and coordinating teams with the Incident Management Protocols (IMP), auditing and reporting procedures and processes and assisting senior management with various secretarial/administrative duties. She has exceptional experience in handling and updating in-house database systems and a proven track record of demonstrating strong interpersonal skills.
Julia is a graduate at the University of Kent with a BSc in Computer Science and Business Administration. In her personal time, she enjoys current affairs discussions, going to the gym and travelling.
- Email:
- [email protected]
Nimmi Patel
Nimmi Patel
Nimmi Patel is the Policy Manager for Skills, Talent and Diversity at techUK.
She works on all things skills policy, focusing on upskilling and retrain. She is committed to embedding diversity in the UK tech pipeline from classroom to boardroom working with partners such as the Tech Talent Charter and the WISE Campaign. Nimmi also leads techUK’s immigration work, collaborating with techUK members and stakeholders to create an environment that attracts the best talent to the UK.
Prior to joining the team, she worked for the UK Labour Party and New Zealand Labour Party and holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Manchester and is currently studying MA Strategic Communications at King’s College London.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 07805744520
- Twitter:
- @nimmiptl
- Website:
- www.techuk.org
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimmi-patel-b0920214a/
Antony Walker
Antony Walker
Antony Walker is deputy CEO of techUK, which he played a lead role in launching in November 2013.
Antony is a member of the senior leadership team and has overall responsibility for techUK’s policy work. Prior to his appointment in July 2012 Antony was chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), the UK’s independent advisory group on broadband policy. Antony was closely involved in the development of broadband policy development in the UK since the BSG was established in 2001 and authored several major reports to government. He also led the development of the UK’s world leading Open Internet Code of Practice that addresses the issue of net neutrality in the UK. Prior to setting up the BSG, Antony spent six years working in Brussels for the American Chamber of Commerce following and writing about telecoms issues and as a consultant working on EU social affairs and environmental issues. Antony is a graduate of Aberdeen University and KU Leuven and is also a Policy Fellow Alumni of the Centre for Science and Policy at Cambridge University.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 07780603065
- Twitter:
- @techUKdepCEO
- Website:
- www.techuk.org/
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonywalker/