York's ruling Labour group today pledged to provide a computer in the home of every primary school child if it is re-elected in May's local elections.

Education chairman Coun Janet Looker said the aim was to make sure all 8,200 primary school children had a terminal in their home by the end of the next council term of four years.

Opposition parties have described the plan as very ambitious and have asked how much it would cost the council tax payer.

Coun Looker said she could not reveal how much the plan would cost. She said the pledge was unique and no other council was doing anything like it.

"A lot of primary schools have computers but 30 per cent of children have access to a computer at home and they can get much more comfortable with computers if they can use one at home," she said.

"We are working with suppliers to work out the best deal that we can raise and have had some very interested replies."

She said work was still being done on how the scheme would work, and whether it would involve the council buying computers and loaning them out to families.

The aim would be to have the home computers linked up to the National Grid For Learning, which is being phased into all schools by the Government into all schools. It might be possible to apply for Government grants towards funding.

Coun Eurig Thomas, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said: "As an objective it's all very fine.

"As far as I know serious costing hasn't taken place and we need to ascertain whether this is what the people of York really want or whether they see it as the role of the family to provide them and where there is obvious hardship for the authority to step in."

He suggested the plan would benefit from trying to get sponsorship from private companies.

Coun Andrew Armstrong, Conservative leader, said: "It's remarkably ambitious - but is this funding at the expense of more formal methods of teaching?

"I would much rather see children coming out of primary school able to read well, write well, do their sums well, able to think and able to work. That is not learned on a computer."

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