A MULTI-million pound learning programme has been given the go-ahead in North Yorskhire to help adults, many of who live in remote areas of the county.

A range of ideas, including on-line learning in pubs, is part of the North Yorkshire education service package worth almost £5m.

The Adult and Community Learning plan 2003/4 sets out the means to help more than 22,000 who are already taking advantage of hundreds of learning opportunities at 256 venues in 29 community education districts. It is also designed to generate more interest.

Courses cover everything from foreign languages to basic reading and writing skills. Fifteen pubs have been kitted out with computers in a Locals-on-Line initiative. This provides access to on-line courses and computing in remote areas.

There are also family learning programmes for parents and children, courses offered to victims of domestic violence in women's refuges and mobile computer suites.

The plan seeks to target all adults, but in particular those with learning, mobility and sensory disabilities. the long-term unemployed and disadvantaged.

North Yorkshire County Council's executive member for education Chris Metcalfe said "It's against this 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."

Some adult education is being done under the guise of form filling or teaching parents how to help their children to do their homework.

The authority also wants to encourage people working in the tourist industry to learn a foreign language.