Digital Britain – Government hogwash…
The long awaited Digital Britain report, launched on Tuesday 12 June 2009 “lacks any serious Government commitment to get the 8 million British adults online who have never used the internet”, says leading digital inclusion charity, Citizens Online.
In the current economic climate we simply cannot afford to ignore those who are struggling with technology – widely accepted as the third basic life skill after literacy and numeracy.
Chief Executive, John Fisher commented, “Having campaigned for nine years for a Digital Inclusion minister and a fully funded action plan, we thought our wait was finally over. But in the past two weeks, we lost key ministers Paul Murphy (and Tom Watson, Wayne David) and, on the eve of the launch of their most important report on this issue for years it has become clear that Lord Carter is also going leaving no ministerial lead and whilst the report is full of aspiration and good intentions it lacks financial commitment”.
Citizens Online calls on Government to demonstrate its commitment by appointing a Cabinet minister to lead a ‘Get Britain Online’ campaign to:
• Set a target for 95 % of adults to have basic digital skills by 2012
• Create a Digital Inclusion Fund from the £½ Billion of unused digital switchover money currently held by the BBC
• Allocate funds to scale up existing and well tried digital inclusion projects such as ‘Everybody Online’
• Make its owns web presence more accessible and usable
• Categorise Broadband Access as a Universal Service Obligation (not a commitment) in excess of 5mbs at ALL times
• Legislate for the IT industry to make its products easier and more accessible to use for all
According to OFCOM research published last week, the most commonly cited reasons for not using the Internet are lack of skills and spark to get people interested. The Governments own figures show each individual who goes online adds over £220 to GDP as well as saving on average over £200 pounds per year - over £3.5bn pounds in total.
Watson and Murphy have left Government and Murphy’s deputy David seems to no longer have the brief. With Lord (Stephen) Carter leaving in July, it leaves a gaping hole. Fisher added, “We heartily applaud Martha Lane Fox’s appointment as Digital Champion supporting digital inclusion, but without powerful and informed Cabinet level support, what chance has she of opening the closed doors of the major Whitehall Departments who simply refuse to accept that there is even an issue to be addressed?”
This seems to be a yet another example of the most privileged gaining all the advantages – whilst the most disadvantaged are be left on the wrong side of the digital divide and finding it increasingly harder to bridge the gap.
Those most affected from not being able to use digital technology are the disadvantaged, vulnerable and excluded groups including older people, low incomes, poor education or learning problems and more surprisingly, young people and ex-offenders. These are the very same people that government spends £billions providing the most services for and have the most contact with – government itself is failing to maximise the efficiency benefits of a digital society.
The rest of us take for granted that, at the click of a mouse, we can access unlimited information; get the best discounts and keep in touch with huge networks of friends, family and business contacts. Paradoxically, the Government is doing virtually nothing to encourage those who would benefit most from such advantages to get online.
With over 2.5 million Britons unemployed, virtually every new job requires some digital skills and many are now only advertised on the internet and require online applications. Many of us would feel lost and outraged if internet access was taken away and regard it as a basic human right.
Notes to editors
Digital Inclusion
Digital technologies pervade every aspect of modern society. However these opportunities are not enjoyed by the whole of the UK population - for example, 8 million adults in the UK still do not use computers and the Internet and there is a strong correlation between digital exclusion and social exclusion.
There are significant and untapped opportunities to use technology better on behalf of and by citizens and communities. These include improved service planning, design and delivery, particularly to address the needs of disadvantaged groups and individuals, buying cheaper goods online, access to better advice and enhanced skills and communications
Source: Citizens Online