Broadband technology will play a leading role in government plans to transform public sector services, Prime Minister Tony Blair said today.

He told the e-Summit conference in London that the government had committed more than £1bn to networking the country's public services.

'Our new strategy will focus on driving up access in key categories in the NHS, education, transport, benefits, tax and criminal justice,' said Blair.

He promised that every school in the country will have a broadband connection for high speed internet access by 2006.

In the NHS, every GP surgery, hospital and Primary Care Trust will be linked by a broadband network.

And high bandwidth services will help to join up criminal justice, and improve social services by networking the offices of the Department of Work and Pensions.

Blair's commitments come one year after the launch of Computing's successful Broadband Britain campaign and seek to address the challenges we highlighted 12 months ago.

'If we want broadband to work for businesses and consumers it has to be available at the right price on the basis of a world class service,' said Blair.

The Prime Minister says the government will spend a total of £6bn on IT and communications over the next four years to improve public services.For the full speech go to:http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page6604.asp