A GROUP which has handed out more than 30,000 free computers to needy Birmingham families is set to see its funding slashed.

Digital Birmingham receives £700,000-a-year from Birmingham City Council but is braced to see that figure massively reduced next year amid savage public spending cuts.

Digital Birmingham programme manager Heike Schuster-James said she expected council money to be severely cut in 2011, but asked for a commitment that some funding would continue.

She told a scrutiny committee: “We have made great progress in raising Birmingham’s reputation.