Council to kit out 34,000 staff with home PCs

Kent County Council is to spend £2m on a scheme to offer its 34,000 employees with PCs for personal home use.

The scheme is being done under the government's Home Computing Initiative (HCI), which gives tax breaks to firms and employees when a PC is loaned to a worker for home use.

The aim is to boost general domestic PC usage and the scheme was given a budget boost last year by Chancellor Gordon Brown in an attempt to improve the poor take-up since the HCI was introduced in 1999.

Under the terms of HCI schemes employees are able to lease new PCs with a fee deducted from their salary each month.

The council said it wants to link the scheme with other relevant strategies such as IT skills development and learning.

The preferred supplier will also be expected to provide a range of products and peripherals from leading computer manufacturers and insurance and protection arrangements for the council.