Digital
Inclusivity
(Luton South) (Lab)
What steps he is taking to (a) increase digital inclusivity and
(b) tackle the digital divide.
The Minister for Digital and Culture ()
Our 10 tech priorities include building a tech-savvy nation so
that no one is left behind in the digital revolution. Adults can,
free of charge, undertake qualifications designed to build
digital skills up to level 1, and the Government are encouraging
broadband providers to roll out low-cost-broadband social tariffs
for lower-income households.
Recently published Office for National Statistics data showed
that in the first quarter of 2020, some 22% of people in Luton
who were over 16 had not used the internet for three months—that
is more than double the national average. Many of my constituents
were severely disadvantaged at the start of the pandemic,
particularly as work, school and social lives moved online. To
support my constituents—who had to choose between data and
dinner—I would like specific information about whether the
affordability of access to broadband and online services will be
adequate.
The hon. Lady is absolutely right to highlight the fact that the
pandemic has demonstrated how digital inclusion and accessibility
have been fundamental to our ability to learn, work and meet our
friends. Social tariffs are already available that offer low-cost
landline and broadband services for those on certain means-tested
benefits. However, the Government are now encouraging all
fixed-broadband providers to introduce a social tariff.
(Newcastle
upon Tyne Central) (Lab) [V]
The Minister says that no one should be left behind, but 60% of
over-50s with household earnings under £20,000 per year are not
online; more than half of adults who are not online are disabled;
2 million households in the UK have been without internet access
during lockdown; and there are up to 900,000 children without
devices. Yet the Government’s digital inclusion strategy was last
updated in 2014 and there is still no target for inclusion. Why
will the Minister not tell us what proportion of the population
she is happy to leave behind in this digital age?
I feel that that is a massive under-representation of the huge
amount of work that has happened over the past year. The
Government agreed a set of commitments with the UK’s major
broadband and mobile operators to support vulnerable customers
during the covid-19 period. A whole heap of extra laptops—1.3
million of them, on top of the 2.9 million that were already in
schools—have been rolled out to young people. In February, to
tackle the disproportionate impact of covid-19 on disabled
people, the Department launched a £2.5 million digital lifeline
fund to support 5,000 people with learning disabilities to access
devices, connectivity and digital skills support.
