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<p>The Government recognises the importance of broadband infrastructure for schools.
The Department is working with industry and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media
and Sport to accelerate the full fibre internet connectivity rollout to all schools.
In addition to this, The Department is supporting those schools most in need[1], which
will not otherwise receive a timely upgrade through commercial routes. Hundreds of
schools have been identified where connectivity will be accelerated by funding a new
full fibre connection over the next two years, bringing schools, local communities
and businesses onto an ultrafast, full fibre connection. As a result, fewer than 10
state funded mainstream schools in Merseyside are in areas that cannot guarantee connection
speeds of over 30Mbps[2]. The numbers for Wirral and Wallasey are even lower and so
harder to reliably estimate.</p><p>The Department will be publishing an Education
Technology strategy in the Spring, which will include how schools are being supported
to overcome the barrier of internet connectivity to harness the opportunities of technology.</p><p>
</p><p>[1] As announced in the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, available here:
<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-telecoms-infrastructure-review"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-telecoms-infrastructure-review</a>,
the market alone is unlikely to support network deployment in the final c.10% of premises.</p><p>[2]
<a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2018"
target="_blank">https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-2018</a>.</p>
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