§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the disadvantages to students whose schools do not have access to broadband services. [178928]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeMy Department is well on the way to achieving the ambitious Government target of making broadband available to over 23,000 schools in England by 2006. This is a substantial and complex task.
Excellent progress has been made during the last two and a half years. As at March 2004, 60 per cent. of schools (98 per cent. of secondary schools and 53 per cent. of primary schools) have access to broadband. We are on schedule to connect the remainder by 2006 as planned.
In the meantime, those schools that don't yet have broadband have access to a narrower, but still significant, range of resources and collaborative opportunities through standard Internet connections. They also have access to off-line multimedia resources as can be found on Curriculum Online and funded using eLearning Credits. We are supporting teachers in the use of such resources through the National Strategies.
We are encouraging schools not scheduled to be upgraded to broadband until towards the end of 2006, and which have expensive ISDN connections, to adopt more cost-effective, interim solutions.
§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what mechanism his Department has put in place to monitor the roll-out of broadband to schools. [178929]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeMy Department works with the 10 Regional Broadband Consortia (RBCs) to procure and roll out broadband connections to schools. Becta (the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) collects LEA broadband connectivity statistics, supplied by the RBCs, which are compiled and released on a quarterly basis.
As at March 2004, 60 per cent. of schools (98 per cent. of secondary schools and 53 per cent. of primary schools) have access to broadband. The Government's target is to connect all schools to broadband by 2006.