The secretary of State for Children, schools and families announced that the Government’s new scheme to give home Broadband access for all children will begin this week in a visit to Chesterfield today.
During a day of visits to the East Midlands, the Secretary of state met Labour Party members and supporters in a question and answer session at Chesterfield Labour club.
During the well attended Q and A, Mr Balls announced that this week the very first family to purchase equipment as part of the Government’s £300M Home access programme would be revealed this week.
The plan which was announced by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown during his momentous 2008 speech to the Labour Party conference is being piloted in Oldham and Suffolk, before ebeing rolled out across the Country.
Toby Perkins, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Chesterfield, said: “Figures released by the office for National Statistics reveal that children with home access to Broadband do better at school. I think the £300 M that the government are investing in this scheme will have real results for children from more deprived families.
Labour has always been a party of aspiration, of opportunity and of redistribution of wealth and this policy reveals that those core values are very much alive within the party today.”