Tony Webster, education director with Tameside, questioned the priority behind money being put into a get-rich-quick scheme while schools were underfunded.

He asked the SEO’s winter conference in Harrogate: “Is it right that so much investment should go into a scheme which may generate money for charities but which is really aimed at making a few people rich when we are not putting adequate resources into the development of information technology in our schools?” Mr Webster said the country’s main asset must be its young people and they deserved a properly funded education service. “It is a question of priorities, isn’t it? ” he said.