§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what his Department's policy is on concessionary pricing for access for older people to computer training and internet services. [118396]
§ Mr. WicksThe Department for Education and Employment is committed to learning later in life and to widening access to ICT skills and the internet. We have provided £252 million through the Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) to set up Information, Communications Technologies (ICT) Learning Centres which will provide access to ICT including learning materials, the internet and e-mail. One of the key client groups for this initiative is older people and we currently have an early pilot project with Age Concern, Waltham Forest, London, which provides free ICT access and training to people over 50. The project also provides outreach for those who are housebound or in residential care homes.
In addition, the Government are also about to launch the ICT for Employability Initiative which commits £25 million to providing 50,000 courses for people who are in receipt of benefits and have no recent ICT experience. We are also making £15 million available for a scheme—`Computers Within Reach'—to pilot arrangements for those who cannot afford new computers to acquire reconditioned computers. Older learners, including those on the recently launched New Deal 50-plus, who are eligible can receive support under these programmes.