§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps he is taking to encourage schools to design and maintain their own web pages. [94270]
§ Mr. WillsWe have set a target for all schools to be connected to the Internet by 2002. Through the National Grid for Learning programme we are providing over £700 million to equip schools. Alongside that,986W £230 million of New Opportunities Funding is available to train serving teachers in the curriculum use of ICT. The NGfL provides the framework for public and private providers to offer additional services. For example, Tesco has set up SchoolNet 2000, which has involved more than 80,000 pupils in creating school websites. We would expect that an increasing number of schools will take the opportunity afforded by these measures to set up their own websites. DfEE has published advice, guidance and further information on setting up and maintaining websites in its Superhighway Safety pack. Schools are also encouraged to seek advice from the British Educational and Communications Technology agency (BECTa) as well as their Local Education Authority's ICT advisers.