Lords thrash out IT education

The Government's alleged failure to boost use of the information superhighway was strongly criticised last week in a Lords debate.

Several peers joined Lord Phillips of Ellesmere, one of the UK's foremost biological and medical scientists, in denouncing ministers who turned down calls from the Lords' science and technology committee for a top-level task force on the so-called information society.

Phillips said the task force would be able to advise the Government on an agenda for action to place the UK at the forefront of the development and use of IT.

But Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, trade and industry minister, pointed to the existing multimedia advisory group chaired by technology minister Ian Taylor.

He said the Government accepted the committee's call for a medium-term review of the regulatory framework for telecoms and broadcasting.

'It would be needed to reflect the technical convergence between those traditionally separate sectors,' he said.

Lord Porter of Luddenham demanded that the Department for Education and Employment should recognise the need for 'more positive, urgent action' to train teachers to use IT in schools.