§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many low income families in the Christchurch constituency have received a computer under the Computers Within Reach initiative; and how many are expected to do so during the next year; [4758]
(2) how many low income families in each constituency have gained access to computers under the Computers Within Reach initiative. [4761]
§ John HealeyNo low income families have so far received a computer under the scheme in the Christchurch constituency, as it is not within a Computers Within Reach pilot area. I have not made decisions on the location of any future pilots.
We do not hold the information by constituency but the numbers of low income families who have, or will benefit from phase 1 of the Computers Within Reach scheme by area—with the relevant constituencies covered in each area listed after the total number of customers—are as follows.
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Pilot area Number delivered by 13 July Total number to be delivered into area during pilot phase Constituency Aidis 106 151 Cover all pilot areas Birmingham 1,467 2,000 Birmingham, Edgbaston Birmingham, Erdington Birmingham, Hall Green Birmingham, Hodge Hill Birmingham, Ladywood Birmingham, North Field Birmingham, Perry Bar Birmingham, Selly Oak Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath Birmingham, Yardley Hull 404 427 Hull, West and Hessle Hull, East Hull, North Portsmouth 320 320 Portsmouth, North Portsmouth, South Rotherham 936 2,222 Rotherham Rother Valley Wentworth Doncaster 898 2,301 Barnsley East and Mexborough Doncaster, Central Doncaster, North Sheffield 1,517 4,106 Sheffield, Attercliffe Sheffield, Brightside Sheffield, Central Sheffield, Hallam Sheffield, Heeley Hillsborough Manchester 1,024 2,389 Manchester, Blackley Manchester, Central Manchester, Gorton Manchester, Withington Leeds 1,610 1,610 Leeds, Central Leeds, East Leeds, North-East Leeds, North-West Leeds, West Liverpool 1,635 2,321 Liverpool, Garston Wired up Communities Pilot—Liverpool 2,000 2,000 Liverpool, Riverside Liverpool, Walton Liverpool, Wavertree Liverpool, West Derby London 581 2,416 Bexleyheath and Crayford Erith and Thamesmead Old Bexley and Sidcup Hackney, North and Stoke Newington Hackney, South and Shoreditch Dulwich and West Norwood Streatham Vauxhall Camberwell and Peckham Southwark and Bermondsey Bethnal Green and Bow Poplar and Canning Town Cities of London and Westminster Bradford 225 483 Bradford, North Bradford, South Bradford, West Keighley Shipley Halifax 0 8 Halifax Huddersfield 0 18 Huddersfield Colne Valley Luton 119 119 Luton, North Luton, South Plymouth 914 1,000 Devon, South-West Plymouth, Devonport Plymouth, Sutton
§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many low income families have so far obtained access to computers under the Computers Within Reach initiative launched in December 1999; and at what cost to public funds; [4759]
(2) if she will make a statement on the progress of the scheme announced on 28 October 1999 to extend access to computers to low income families within three years and the date by which she expects the 100,000 families to gain access to a computer; [4760]
(3) how many people have so far applied for computers under the Computers Within Reach initiative; and what the average length of time between application and delivery is. [4766]
§ John HealeyThe first phase of the Computers Within Reach scheme became operational with the launch of a number of locally based pilots in England in October 2000. The proposed subsidy for the scheme was that—in addition to the £60 paid by the customer—the contractor would receive funding of £150 per computer and printer package delivered—with extra subsidy available if the customer was disabled. We have made a number of changes to the proposed approach in terms of enhanced software and specification and purchased a suite of office applications software to be used on each PC and in certain circumstances increased the funding available to contractors in respect of increases in the specification of the computers supplied.
Phase 1 of the scheme will be closed by the end of August 2001 and 24,051 PCs will have been delivered by this time. This will ensure that everyone on the waiting list will have received a computer. We do not hold data on the average length of time between application and delivery of computers but became aware of issues which were causing delays. These problems have now been resolved and all outstanding applicants will receive a computer before the end of phase 1.
The scheme is subject to an external research evaluation contract and we will be using this and our internal evaluation to learn the lessons from the first phase. We are currently considering how to take the scheme forward.
§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many computers have been installed in homes and schools under the Wired up Communities initiative; and how many will be installed by 31 December. [4762]
§ John HealeySo far under the Wired up Communities initiative, 1,840 recycled computers have been installed into homes in the phase one project in Kensington, Liverpool. No computers have yet been installed in schools. There is no target for installation of computers by 31 December 2001.
However, by 31 March 2002, the seven Wired up Communities projects aim to connect 14,000 homes to the Internet using a variety of devices, including new and recycled computers and television set-top boxes.
Also, through the national e-Learning Foundation, 33 schools in the Wired up Communities areas will be wired up using technology such as electronic whiteboards and laptops. Some 12,000 schoolchildren will benefit from this new technology.