MORE than 100 laptops have been delivered to disadvantaged teenagers in the South Lakes, as part of a new Downing Street drive to close the education gap.

The county council has received more than 900 laptops through the programme, with 116 having gone to the South Lakes and the same number having been dispatched to schools and social workers in Barrow.

On April 19, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced the scheme, arguing it would ‘take the pressure off’ parents and schools, and support children without access to online learning as schools were shut.

However, last month the majority of target educators reported having not received any of the promised computers, with many fearing the Government’s promise could remain unfulfilled.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also found to have falsely claimed child poverty levels had fallen under his administration by the Children’s Commissioner in June.

It was revealed in 2018 that almost 50 per cent of children in some parts of south Cumbria were growing up in poverty.

Responding to the laptop distribution news, South Lakes MP Tim Farron was critical of the Government's delivery of the scheme.

He said: “It’s nowhere near enough and it’s about three months too late.

“Children who are not fortunate enough to have parents who take an active supportive interest in their school work at home will be massively falling behind at the moment.

“It would’ve been quite straightforward for the Government to have delivered many, many hundreds of laptops to South Cumbria in the first couple of days after lockdown, not a few dozen three months later.”