Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced a £10m initiative intended to link the UK's poorest communities to the internet.

Addressing an internet summit in London, Mr Brown said tens of thousands of families would receive free computers and cheap internet access in a bid to bridge what he called the "growing digital divide" between rich and poor.

While half of the wealthiest 10% of households have internet access, just one in 20 of the poorest can get on to the web.

The money will be spent on 10 pilot projects under which free computers will be given to 35,000 households which do not already own one, along with cut-price phone connections.

Community webs - linking those involved in the projects to the rest of the internet - will give training and advice on jobs, while access to local services and IT training centres will be provided as part of the public-private venture. "This will help overcome the barriers people may face in access to employment, education and local services and it will give many the opportunity for the first time to use the internet," Mr Brown said.

Liverpool's Kensington Estate, - among the most deprived 1% of areas in Britain with unemployment three times the national average - will be the first community to be "wired up". Firms ICL and Gardener Systems will work with local organisations to put 2,000 free computers in homes on the estate and ensure residents can use them.

Nine other pilot areas which will take part in the project will be named in the coming months.

The scheme will help the government meet Prime Minister Tony Blair's pledge to ensure everyone has internet access by 2005.