More than one in seven parents have admitted they do not know what their children use the internet for, according to a new survey.

About half the parents asked said some of the time their children spent online included doing homework, while 44 per cent said it included e-mailing friends and relatives.

Some 15 per cent of parents admitted they had no idea what their children were looking at, according to Continental Research's Internet Access Report.

Fifteen per cent said their children looked at TV station websites and 14 per cent said they looked at Pokemon sites.

The report also revealed more than 10 million homes were now online with almost half, logging on everyday, compared with a third doing so in 1998.

Another survey has shown that nearly half of all adults in Britain do not know how computers are being used in schools.

The research was conducted for Tiny Computers which yesterday launched a free computers for schools scheme.

According to its survey, only one per cent of adults understand that most school subjects use PCs in lessons.

Tiny is now running a voucher scheme in conjunction with its computer sales. For each 20 vouchers a school collects, they will be entitled to a free £600 PC.