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10 July 2000
NEW FIGURES SHOWING A DOUBLING OF UK HOMES ON-LINE ARE WELCOME: BUT WE NEED TO GO FURTHER SAYS TIMMS
New figures out today showing a quarter of all households in the UK now have access to the Internet in their home were welcomed by Financial Secretary Stephen Timms. Speaking at an e-business Conference in London he said:
"Today's figures showing a doubling of UK homes on-line in one year are a very encouraging change, but we need to go further and we need to do so quickly.
"The figures this morning indicate that those in the highest income groups are around ten times more likely to have access to the Net than those in the lowest income groups.
"That must change. We have made a start by investing 1.7 billion in our national IT strategy. Connecting all our schools and libraries to the Internet. We are also creating over 3 years a network of up to 1000 UK online centres in low-income communities, offering people the opportunity to borrow a PC or laptop to use at home in exactly the same way libraries lend books.
"With our new University for Industry and the new money the Chancellor announced for science last week we are implementing the biggest public skills programme we have ever had. And it is a skills programme with one purpose only, that the whole of Britain is equipped for the information age.
"With individuals alive to the opportunities, businesses sufficiently ambitious, and government raising its game too, we can rise to the challenge - making Britain the best place in the world for e-commerce."
NOTES TO EDITORS
Figures showing a breakdown of the 6.5 million households in the UK who could access the Internet from a home computer were published by National Statistics this morning.