§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he has studied the proposal to establish an information technology centre in Stoke-on-Trent, the details of which have been forwarded to him; and what conclusion he has reached.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerI have received the right hon. Member's letter proposing that an information technology centre be established in Stoke-on-Trent, and have noted its contents with interest.
I announced the first 30 centres to the House on 21 December, together with our intention to extend the scheme to a total of about 100 centres during the course of this year. This is, of course, a joint Department of Industry/Manpower Services Commission initiative, and the MSC is currently identifying the likely locations for the extended programme with a view to ensuring a reasonable distribution within regions according to the merits of individual requests. The way forward is therefore for potential sponsors to get in touch with the local office of the MSC special programmes division, and discuss the way of drawing up a formal application, assisted as appropriate by the information technology consultancy unit advising this Department.