LEARNING IT skills has proved so popular for staff at Komatsu UK, that bosses have decided to put on extra classes.

The Birtley excavator manufacturer, originally decide to run the Computer Literacy and Information Technology (Clait) stage one course to enable staff and their families to develop their IT skills.

The Clait programme is designed to teach beginners basic IT skills such as wordprocessing, spreadsheets and databases during two-hour sessions over a six-week period.

Beginners could then progress on to the IBT (Integrated Business Technology) Stage 2 course which further develops their IT skills. The idea for the courses was developed via a three-way partnership between Tyneside TEC, Learning Dynamix and Komatsu UK.

However, demand was so high that Komatsu UK decided to offer a third course at their own cost.

Spokeswoman Jackie Lowe said: "The courses that we ran were extremely popular but our agreement within the Partnership was only for two years.

"As we didn't want any of our staff to miss out, we decided to run the course for a third year, funded entirely by Komatsu UK."

Those who successfully completed the Komatsu UK Clait course were: Colin Arnott, Michael Bell, Colin Clayton, Ian Gowland, Michael Hall, John Harrison, Graeme McFall, Dennis Mole, Michael Wood and John Docherty. IBT 2 achievers were: Tony Barry, Paul Gradon, Kevin Hall, David Henderson, Martin Hindmarch, Kevin Jones, Ben Nicholls, Derek Wilson and John Young.

The Clait and IBT courses are now being held in local colleges as part of a Government initiative to promote learning.