Government to review "train to gain" education

17:43 12th June 2009

The government is to carry out a review into the idea of switching funding for traditional computer courses to "train to gain" programmes.

Channel 4 reports there are fears from skill providers that this "shake-up" could leave the unemployed without access to gaining the skills they need to find a job.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills told the news provider that in March this year the skills secretary, John Denham, asked Baroness Estelle Morris to carry out research into what kind of computer skills are needed most and how the government can provide them.

He added that the review will look "at support for the unemployed, those at risk of redundancy and people more likely to be excluded from or less literate in information and communication technology like the elderly".

According to the spokesman, each year £10 million is provided by the government to fund 6,000 online centres in the UK which offer low cost or free IT training.

Earlier this month Baroness Estelle Morris was in the headlines following news she spent thousands on refurbishing her London flat in 2005.