Government pledges £300m to get poorest online

Gordon Brown has announced a £300m scheme to provide broadband for disadvantaged families.

Around 1.4 million children currently do not have access to a broadband connection at home, according to the Government.

The Broadband for All scheme will give families on low incomes an Educational Technology Allowance; these vouchers are worth between £100 and £700.

Expected to start in November, the three-year Government-funded programme will contribute to the cost of broadband, software and computers.

The scheme has been welcomed by teachers, who said it would help ensure “no child is left behind”.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Manchester, Mr Brown said the programme would boost children's long-term job prospects and enable parents to stay in touch with schools via email.

"To ensure we are prepared for the times to come, the Government will fund one million more households to get online, enabling parents to link with teachers and their children's schools to help young people with homework and coursework," he said

The scheme will use "previously unannonced funding", according to a representative for the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which will allocate the funding following an independent report by the Home Access Taskforce. The group, comprising the Government, headteachers and children’s charities, said every five- to 19-year-old should be able to log on to the internet at home by 2011.

It recommended free broadband for all young people between seven and 19 years old whose families were eligible. It also said these children should be given a free notebook or desktop PC with relevant software and hardware.

The programme will begin in November with targeted funding available for all local authorities to provide home access for children in care and others for whom the authority has special responsibility. The wider programme will be piloted in early 2009, with expansion to the rest of England starting in autumn 2009. Details of the rollout are to be announced next month.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said: "Access to IT is as fundamental to a child's learning as pens, pencils and paper. Free computers and internet access for the poorest families will provide access to a worldwide learning and communication resource, ensuring no child is left behind."

Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "Every youngster should have an equal start in life, and that includes equal access to the internet.”