By Joey Gardiner, 25 October 1999 15:14
NEWS UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will this week flesh-out government proposals to spend $650m on 1,000 IT learning centres across the country. Writing for the Guardian newspaper today, Blair said that he will announce the first seven centres - or e-libr@ries - on Friday. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, who met the Prime Minister at Downing Street last week, is to provide $4m for the scheme through his Gates Learning Foundation. The IT learning centres are to provide IT skills in the poorest and most deprived areas of the country. Blair claimed the government is to make a number of further announcements which will consolidate its position on ecommerce. He added the government is dedicated to avoiding "a society divided into computer haves and have-nots". However Chris Edwards, Professor of Information Systems at Cranfield School of Management, questioned the efficacy of the move. Whilst welcoming the investment in IT training, he said "what we need is short-term action, rather than long term investment". He recommends focusing money on high achievers if Blair really wants to stoke the Internet revolution. Blair also outlined a tripartite role for government in the technology revolution - to create competitive markets, to raise skill levels, and to have more effective electronic government.
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