Brown pledges broadband for poor families

The move, announced at the Learning and Technology World Forum, involves a £300m investment with the Children, Schools and Families Bill and is aimed at enabling the families to link up to their children's schools through the internet and access reports on their progress, according to The Guardian . In what aides described as a sign of his commitment to "aspiration", the prime minister said he wanted every household to have broadband access to the internet. Brown said: "We want every family to become a broadband family, and we want every home linked to a school. For those finding it difficult to afford this, today I can announce the nationwide roll out of our home access programme to get laptops and broadband at home for 270,000 families. It will mean all families can come together, learn together and reap rewards together." The move is intended to back up the government's "guarantee" that all parents will be able to access school reports about their children's progress online – by 2010 for secondary schools, and 2012 for primary schools. In a related move, the government has launched a course for basic online computing skills. It has been developed by the Department for Business, Industry and Skills, the educational technology agency Becta, and UK online centres. Business secretary Lord Mandelson said the course has been created as part of the government's response to Baroness Estelle Morris' Review of ICT User Skills , published in June 2009. It recommended a single channel to help the 15m offline adults in the UK get to grips with technology. The free of charge course is hosted on the myguide service has been designed especially for beginners, and consists of five modules, with guidance for those providing support. It will be piloted over the next three months at UK online centres in Barnsley, Oldham, Gloucester, Devon and London. Helen Milner, managing director of UK online centres, said: "It brings together the fundamentals of ICT in one place, in one easy to access and easy to use course, freely and openly available to all." Mandelson said: "Everyone should be a confident user of the internet if they are to participate fully in today's digital society. Being online brings a range of personal benefits, including financial savings, educational attainment, improved salary prospects and independent living for older people. "Online basics will mean more people accessing vital IT skills, enhancing their working lives and making digital literacy as important a skill as basic literacy and numeracy. We're also investing £30m extra in UK online centres to support digital participation, with the aim of getting more than one million people online in the next three years."