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Brown promises £300m to get people online

The Prime Minister has laid out plans to spend millions helping poor families buy computer equipment and broadband connections - after his government promised the same earlier this year.

By Janae Olinger, 24 Sep 2008 at 15:01

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Broadband will be available to all, according to a new plan proposed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the Labour party conference.

Anywhere from £100 to £700 vouchers will be handed out to poor families to spend on computer equipment, broadband connections and technical advice.

“It is now clear that pupils without internet access are at a disadvantage to their peers. Home access is increasingly becoming an essential part of a good education and having a computer with internet access should be seen as equally essential as having a school bag, a uniform or a pen and paper,” explained Jim Knight, the minister of state for schools and learners.

But earlier this year, the Labour government laid out a three-year, £30 million plan to deliver internet connections to disadvantaged students. That previously allotted £30 million for low income families has already been used, according to a spokesperson from the department of children, schools and families (DCSF).

The DCSF spokesperson said that the basis of the £300m proposal is similar but not an extension of the £30m. The range of families targeted with the new proposal is much larger.

The goal is for England to be one of the first countries where children ages 5-19 can log onto the internet at home by 2011.

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3 comments

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Mike Leitch

Will these be the same poor disadvantaged families who already get 'family credit', have Sky Tv and can afford to waste money on cigarettes and drink. Maybe if these poor disadvantaged souls actually tried picking up a book and using pen and paper, they wouldnt be so bloody illiterate.

By gaspode991 on Friday Sep 26

I see the bigots got in first!

With attitudes like those of Mike Leitch it's a wonder we ever progressed beyond flogging peasants! Not that it really needs explaining, but for the record, people who get Working Tax Credit (it hasn't been Family Credit for a long time) work as hard - if not harder - as any other working people. However, the employers that pay their low salaries obviously don't pay them an appropriate amount for their efforts. Wiser people that the bigot in the street have realised that Tax Credits is an app

By Ip_forumsitpro2d on Friday Sep 26

Hand Ups not Hand Outs

A lack of hand-outs is not the stumbling block to internet access, it is ignorance and a desire to stay geek-free. I'm constantly trying to give away fully configured internet-ready PCs to poor friends and family, after all they can have free broadband with their Sky subscriptions. They're happy with their Luddite lives and change is a threat. This is just wasting money. The PC will be used to infringe copyright, spread malware and play games.

By Ip_itproaf44e382 on Friday Sep 26