17 April 2000

A £10 million pilot project will 'wire-up' deprived communities around England. The project will provide a window into the future, assessing how home access to the Internet and email can transform lives in the most disadvantaged communities.

Homes in a number of pilot estates, tower blocks and rural areas will be brought online and linked to their own community web with access to government, job, health and education services. Families in these wired-up communities will find a range of ways to enhance their lives using new technology.

A new mother will be able to tap into health services such as NHS Direct or the Parents website; children will access on-line revision and sites offering help with homework; an unemployed father could join an Internet job club and elderly relatives can take advantage of online shopping, cutting the burden of heavy shopping bags. Other local people will benefit too:
* a local community worker can find out about government services, such as information on benefit entitlement and pensions;
* a local teacher can tap into a range of services from online lesson plans to a database full of tips and advice from other teachers across the country.

Minister for Learning and Technology Michael Wills announced the initiative today. He said:

"We are committed to providing universal access to the Internet. New technology has tremendous power to connect people to opportunities in education, employment and with one another. This project will reveal how new technology might help us to re-connect people who have felt cut off from the possibilities of the new emerging technologies.

"The risk of a digital divide is real. Just 18% of those in low socio-economic groups have a computer at home, compared to 65% of those in the upper groups. The recent Policy Action Team (PAT 15) report highlighted the danger of excluding people when health, banking, government, education and job services are increasingly available online.

"Government alone cannot bridge the gap - that is why we are looking to the private sector to work with us in wiring up disadvantaged communities. A number of successful projects are already under way, but a whole range of new technologies have dramatically expanded the possibilities. This project will allow the private sector and government to deploy these technologies and properly assess their impact on communities and individuals.

"This project will link communities with more than just wires by providing a holistic approach to regeneration and ensuring that important initiatives such as New Deal for Communities and the £252 million ICT Learning Centres work together with maximum benefit to the local area."

Welcoming the project, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Smith said:

"This project has the potential to help transform the lives of people in some of our most disadvantaged communities. It will empower people by giving them access to learning and job opportunities. It will also be a gateway to the vast information sources that many of us already take for granted in the information age."

Editor's Notes

This press notice relates to England 1. The £10 million Wired Communities project is supported by the Capital Modernisation Fund. The Capital Modernisation Fund was set up in the Comprehensive Spending Review to support capital investment to improve public services. An additional £200 million was added to the Fund for 2000-01 as part of the Budget 2000 announcement to take the total size of the Fund to £2.7 billion over 1999-00 to 2001-02.

2. The Wired Communities pilot projects test six key issues:
* impact - the impact of new technologies on different types of community;
* integration - how best to complement existing programmes in the most disadvantaged communities;
* technology - the most appropriate technological approaches - including both the

architecture to wire up the households and the different ways in which to view software and internet resources, such as televisions and computers;
* public private sector partnerships - how best to involve and work with the private sector;
* services - what facilities, services and support should be offered to the communities;
* sustainability - ensuring communities take up the technologies as their own and foster long-term development.

2. The PAT 15 report can be downloaded from the PAT 15 website www.pat15.org.uk

3. The New Deal for Communities is a DETR sponsored initiative to help some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country. A total of £880m has been set aside to help disadvantaged areas in partnership with local organisations. These partnerships are developing detailed long-term strategies for change in their areas. For further details, check: www.regeneration.detr.gov.uk/ndc

4. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Learning Centres initiative is a new programme designed to help bridge the gap between those who have access to new technologies and those who do not. The aim is to establish around 700 ICT Learning Centres across England, which will help to bring access to new technology and learning into disadvantaged communities. For further details, check: www.dfee.gov.uk/ict-learning-centres

5. The contact for companies or community organisations to register interest expressions of interest is Adam Bennett: 1F Caxton House, Tothill St, London, SW1H 9NA email - adam.bennett@dfee.gov.uk

6. Timing: The pilots will be up and running from the end of 2001 and further announcements will be made in due course.

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email: kirsty.watt@dfee.gov.uk

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Press Notice 2000/0168
Previously known as (Previously known as 168/00)