§ 21. Mrs. Betty WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the development of information and communication technology learning centres. [123355]
§ Mr. WillsIn the March 1999 Budget the Chancellor announced the development of around 700 ICT Learning Centres across England. The initiative is targeted at disadvantaged communities, including: the 2,000 most deprived local authority wards; rural areas with significant transport and deprivation problems; and disadvantaged client groups with low or no ICT skills.
This initiative centres on people living and working in the most disadvantaged communities and will provide access to ICT and learning into disadvantaged communities to bridge the gap between those in society who have access to ICT and those who do not. Early centres were announced in October. A further round of centres were announced in January when the prospectus for the main rollout of the programme was published. Over 300 applications have been received for the first phase of the programme. The first successful projects will be announced in September.