Give disadvantaged pupils access to the internet, Gavin Williamson told

A cross-party letter to education secretary Gavin Williamson is calling on the government to help close the digital divide by ensuring that all children on free school meals have internet access and adequate devices at home.

The letter was witten by MP Siobhain McDonagh and signed by former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Ofsted's former chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, along with many others. It said that there are at least 700,000 disadvantaged children who do not have proper access to computers or the internet.

The letter says: "Now we are aware of the size of the digital divide and time implication it will have on the education and opportunity for many of the most vulnerable children in our society, we believe that there must be an obligation to ensure that these children have access to the internet at home.

"It would make an immediate, tangible different to some the most vulnerable children in our society. And so we are calling on the government to endure that all 1.3 million children entitled to free school meals have internet access and adequate devices at home."