PEOPLE will soon be able to boost their knowledge while having a pint after a multi-million pound learning programme was given the go-ahead in North Yorkshire.

A host of innovative ideas, including online learning in pubs, is at the hub of a North Yorkshire Education Service package worth £5 million.

More than 22,000 learners are set to take advantage of the new Adult and Community Learning Plan.

Courses will cover everything from foreign languages to basic reading, writing skills and computing.

And 15 pubs across the county, from Scarborough in the East to Selby in the South, Bullamoor in the North to Horton-in-Ribblesdale in the West, have been kitted out with computers in a Locals-on-Line initiative. This provides access to online courses and computing in remote areas.

The plan can benefit all adults, but particularly targets those with learning, mobility and sensory disabilities, as well as the long-term unemployed and disadvantaged.

Coun Chris Metcalfe, North Yorkshire County Council's education chief, said: "It's against a background of extreme rurality with few large towns that the challenge of providing effective services for adult learners needs to be set.

"The plan gives really good access to people right across the county. It's a difficult area as people also have to recognise they have a problem and admit to it.

"Even to take your driving test nowadays requires reading and writing skills as there is a written test. People could struggle even if they are competent drivers."

The authority is also hoping to develop courses to encourage people working in the tourist industry to learn a foreign language.

Fran Lett, the county council's education officer, said: "Just speaking a few words to tourists in their own language can make them feel welcome and make them want to come back to North Yorkshire."

Updated: 10:51 Wednesday, May 28, 2003