A sweaty Tony Blair won excited applause from the Brighton Centre conference hall last week when he restated his commitment to education, education, education.

But as the Prime Minister committed £1 billion to computers in schools, 200 PCs meant for community IT training at a Brighton college were left unused by the general community.

Meanwhile, the Government's flagship source of information for IT training failed to list most IT courses in Brighton and Hove.

The Government has committed itself to supporting life-long learning but people in Brighton and Hove have found it harder than ever to get basic IT skills.

Varndean School's technology college status had resulted in a refurbished wing of the school being fitted out with 200 PCs.

The status was worth half-a-million pounds over three years and the school was committed to opening its doors to the public.

But two years after the award of the status, classes have only been put on for parents and carers of Varndean pupils and that for just two evenings a week.

As residents of Brighton and Hove waited on massive waiting lists to get on to Brighton College of Technology IT courses, Varndean's 200 computers sat unused five nights out of seven.

Varndean head Andy Schofield admitted the school had an obligation to extend its services to the community and said he wanted to expand the training, offering an RSA course in November.

But he said he had no contact with council bosses responsible for life-long learning.

He said: "You could open it up much more in the evenings."

The empty computer room contrasted dramatically with rooms packed with would-be IT students at Brighton College of Technology's (BCT) enrolment sessions in August.

Marketing manager Judy Parks said: "They were queueing up outside.

"Many were disappointed by the time the end of the day came."

Fifty people were on a waiting list for Javascript tuition at one point, said Ms Parks.

She said her college shared marketing resources with other colleges but never computers.

The funding for Further Education colleges like BCT is linked to the number of students they teach.

Shifting students to other centres could impact on colleges' finances.

Ms Parks said the funding mechanism was complex but added: "We've got a good relationship with sixth-form colleges.

"When it comes to sharing computers it's more complicated, mainly because of the funding issue."

Brighton and Hove has not been short of IT training centres.

Research in 1998 estimated there were more than 9,000 training places in the towns.

That figure has almost certainly gone up.

The Local Education Authority (LEA) has conducted an impressive range of one-off IT training projects over the last two years aimed at the old, unemployed and homeless people, refugees and ethnic minorities.

The problem for students has been sifting through patchy information to find a free course.

Students have been left bewildered by the choice and struggling to find places.

Minister for Life-long Learning Michael Wills last week visited The Bridge, a community IT training centre at Falmer High School.

Created by the community for the community, it was a perfect example of what the Government has been trying to achieve in extending learning opportunities.

Yet despite council-produced flyers and newspaper advertising, a Falmer High spokesman admitted most people who have used the 12 computers there have heard about the facility via word of mouth.

He said: "People have heard about it through friends and conversations on the estate."

Very few of those left disappointed in the crowds at BCT could have turned up.

There is no central facility in Brighton and Hove to refer would-be students from one course to another.

The Government has set up a website and telephone helpline project called Learn Direct through the University for Industry to help people find out about training courses.

When evolution checked for courses in Brighton, it found no mention of the many open-learning centres and special projects like The Bridge and a long list of commercial distance-learning packages.

Aidan Pettitt, lifetime learning development manager for Brighton and Hove LEA, admitted Learn Direct did not work.

He said: "I've been living with the real frustration of this for a year. It was a long time coming and it's a long time getting it to work."

He said a member of staff at the LEA was working on a project called the Information, Advice and Guidance Network.

It would publish a directory of local information in three or four months' time, drawing on data from around 20 different organisations.

But the Network itself was not receiving funding and Mr Pettitt described the job of detailing all the IT training in Brighton and Hove as "almost impossible".

He said: "We're doing it voluntarily."

From April 2001, a new Learning and Skills Council will take over the co-ordination of non-university training for those over 16 in Sussex.

Lewes Tertiary College principal Henry Ball was named as its first executive director last week.

He said he would address the issue of IT training information when he took up his post.

Mr Ball is likely to face an uphill struggle to turn the promises Mr Blair made in Brighton into real progress in the conference town.

www.learndirect.co.uk