§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how the UK online Computer Training initiative will be evaluated; if there will be a control group; and if he will make a statement. [124663]
§ Mr. WillsThe UK online Computer Training initiative will be evaluated firstly by collecting data for a monthly management information report. This will be available from the beginning of August. Further and more detailed reports will be produced in September. The longer-term evaluation of the initiative will be carried out in April 2001. Evaluation will track individual clients to see how the course has altered their chances of employability. We are interested to find out how provision like this can make a change for people who may be at risk of missing out on the benefits of ICT skills in the modern work place.
350WThe control group for this initiative will be drawn from people who have not attended the course and will allow us to make a direct comparison between people who have attended the course and those who have not.
Once we have established what the scheme has achieved I will make a statement as to how we can apply the lessons we have learned.
§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many people he estimates will participate in the UK online Computer Training initiative. [124664]
§ Mr. WillsGovernment Offices for the regions have contracted for 50,000 courses to be offered in England under UK online Computer Training. Clients will be directed to courses via the learndirect service. Demand for the courses has been very high: Learndirect received their hundred-thousandth inquiry about this scheme on 6 June 2000. While we anticipate that 50,000 people will benefit directly from the training, we believe that the advertising that supports the scheme will lead people into other courses as well. We will evaluate the benefit to other schemes of the advertising campaign for the UK online Computer Training initiative.
§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how long the UK online Computer Training initiative will operate. [124665]
§ Mr. WillsUK online Computer Training is a one year initiative and is due to complete in March 2001. The future of the initiative will be decided once reliable management information becomes available and a sound evaluation has been carried out. It is still very early in the life of this initiative, although early indications are very favourable.