Education minister visits Plymouth UK online centre

Notes to editors

• The North Prospect Community Centre has been a UK online centre since 2002. In 2003 was registered as an OCR accredited Centre for Skills for Life qualifications in Literacy and Numeracy, and also CLAIT. IT has had the MATRIX quality standard for Information, Advice and Guidance since September 05.
• UK online centres engage with adults who have low or no skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), or who do not have access to ICT at home or at work.
• UK online centres provide people with access to technology and support in using it. There are approximately 6,000 UK online centres across England, which provide free or low cost access to the internet and email, deliver online courses and encourage people to progress onto further learning. An estimated two thirds of those people are from the most deprived wards in England - more than half are not in employment, one in ten has a disability, one in seven is over 65, and one in five is from a minority ethnic group.