Tees Valley Leisure has been awarded £45,000 in Smarter Government funding to roll out a series of internet cafes in pubs, social clubs and village halls in Teeside.

The trust currently operates the Cyber Valley internet centre at Eston Sports Academy and provides basic IT training.

Centre manager and training officer, Jackie Godward, said: "The aim is to make IT more accessible to wider communities and help them understand how it can help them with their day-to-day lives - for instance, in booking holidays, claiming benefits online, ordering goods online and so on.

"The centre now has enough funding to kit out about 15 small internet cafes at £1,000 each, to enable people to get online, and we're asking community groups to apply to us to set up a centre at their venue.

"Places that win funding will become UK online centres and will be supported by Cyber Valley with help, training and expertise on hand. We will also fund equipment including a computer and printer and perhaps a webcam."

Godward, who recently won a tutor of the year award for her work at Cyber Valley, added that the aim of the scheme is to help 10 new people get online each month, who have not previously had the confidence to use the internet.

"The idea of the government's online scheme is to give people the confidence to work online and not be afraid of technology," she said.