DURHAM County Council is relaunching its £3.8m education service for young people and adults.

The community education service is being renamed Education in the Community and revamped in a drive to raise standards and improve the service.

An eight-point pledge offering a more flexible service is the backbone of the new set-up which, officials hope, will build on the success of its predecessor.

Councillor Neil Foster, the council's cabinet member responsible for education, said: "Quite rightly, learning provision for adults and young people is a priority for the Government - a view long held by Durham County Council.

"In the past 12 months, the council has made available additional resources for both the youth service and adult education aspects of community education.

"The Government has established the Learning and Skills Council to help meet the needs of all leavers post-16, and ConneXions to cater for the support of young people aged 13 to 19.

"The community education service is already working closely with both, and we are looking forward to building on the considerable success we have already achieved.

"The change of name reflects the local authority's determination to ensure that education and raising standards is available to the entire community and complements the activity in schools.

"Education is for all, and we have set ourselves an ambitious plan which will have a positive impact for the people of County Durham.''

Education in the Community supports 250 youth and community organisations.

It enables the community use of schools and employs 40 full-time staff and hundreds of part-time staff and volunteers.

In the past year, attendances at youth work sessions were more than 270,000 and there were more than 25,000 attendances at adult education classes. Basic education programmes attracted 1,750 people.

The new service will be launched on Tuesday, at County Hall, Durham City