CO2 monitors: Almost half of promised devices delivered

More than 144,000 carbon dioxide monitors have been delivered to schools and other education settings, the Department for Education has said.

But it is not clear from delivery data how many schools have actually received a monitor.

According to new government data, 144,723 of the devices had been delivered to eligible education settings as of October 29, almost half of the 300,000 first promised.

It comes after education secretary pledged to get 90,000 of the monitors out to schools and other institutions by the end of last month, and then “through November we scale up to all 300,000”.

The DfE said today that it estimated the remaining devices would be delivered by the end of autumn term. Updates on delivery numbers will be published fortnightly.

However, the DfE’s delivery data does not break down by institution type, meaning it is impossible to tell how many have gone to schools, early years and further education providers.

It is also impossible to tell whether there are any settings which are still awaiting a delivery, as schools were told to expect multiple devices.

The DfE had said that each institution would eventually receive around one device per two classrooms and staff rooms.

It follows a slow start to the rollout of the £25 million programme, which was first announced in August.

Schools Week reported in early September that just 41 schools in London were due to receive CO2 monitors in the first week of distribution.

And education secretary Nadhim Zahawi admitted in early October that just 2 per cent of promised monitors had been delivered.