Vol. 506 No. 5
244 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the budget available for the remainder of 1999 for the training of teachers in the use of information technology in the classroom; the number of teachers who have completed the 20 hour phase one and 20 hour phase two to date in 1999; and if he will make provision for accelerating the take up of this training in the second half of the year. [15900/99]
The budget available for the remainder of 1999 for the training of teachers in the use of information technology in the classroom is £735,000. The number of teachers who have completed the 20 hour phase one and 20 hour phase two, to date in 1999, is 5,000 and 5,500, respectively. It is planned to provide approximately 10,500 further training places for teachers in the second half of 1999.
I have made substantial funding available for the teacher skills initiative in the past year and a half and ICT training courses for teachers will continue to be a priority feature of the schools IT 2000 programme.
