Tabled by
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport whether digital inclusion is a priority for Her Majesty’s
Government; and what plans the Secretary of State has to
incorporate it in future Government policy.
(Con)
My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend and with his permission, I
beg leave to ask the Question standing in his name on the Order
Paper, and I welcome my noble friend to the Dispatch Box for the
first time.
The Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media
and Sport () (Con)
(Maiden Speech)
My Lords, before I answer the Question, as this is the first time
that I have addressed your Lordships’ House, I extend my sincere
thanks to all noble Lords and particularly to the staff of this
House, who have given me such a warm welcome since my
introduction.
Moving to the Answer, digital inclusion is a priority for this
Government, since almost 12 million people do not have the full
complement of essential digital skills needed for day-to-day
life. From August, the Government will introduce a legal
entitlement for adults with no or low digital skills to undertake
new digital qualifications free of charge.
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. During the original
digital revolution, government and agencies made a lot of effort
to ensure that people were not excluded by a lack of facilities,
or age, and so on. The great thing about the technological
revolution is that it is moving at an ever-faster pace, but there
is, therefore, a risk that people who were included are now at
risk of being excluded from the digital revolution. Can my noble
friend ensure that all government departments and agencies make
efforts to keep included those who are at risk of being excluded?
I thank my noble friend; he is absolutely right. My department
has launched a digital inclusion innovation fund, designed to
tackle digital exclusion among older and disabled people, and I
have just talked about the qualifications. What he also hinted at
is that, for many people, it is a case of simply finding it
difficult to go online or to complete government forms. We want
to make sure that there is support available; for example, in our
network of around 3,000 libraries, in accessible locations, there
are trained staff and volunteers and assisted access to a wide
range of digital public services.
(CB)
My Lords, I add my welcome to those of others to the Secretary of
State and refer the House to my interests in the register. Does
she agree that inclusion is about more than getting the greatest
number of people online as quickly as possible, and depends on
the digital environment being designed in a way that respects the
needs and rights of users, be they women in public life,
vulnerable users, or children and young people? In particular,
can she take the opportunity of welcoming the age-appropriate
design code, published by the ICO yesterday, and tell the House
when she expects to lay it before Parliament?
I thank the noble Baroness. She and I had a brief conversation
recently about some of these issues, and I look forward to
discussing this further with her. She is absolutely right to say
that the digital and tech environment is very exciting, but that
it of course brings new challenges, not just about the new
technology itself but about behaviours online. That is why the
Government will legislate following the online harms White Paper
and will develop further legislation. I welcome the publication
yesterday by the Information Commissioner’s Office of the
age-appropriate design code, and I hope that all parliamentarians
will have the opportunity to take note of it.
(Lab)
My Lords, I offer my words of welcome to the noble Baroness. The
last time that we were in the same place, she was on the
receiving end of a 25-minute sermon from me; I promise that my
question will be shorter. We have heard some reassurances, but
there are really two questions regarding inclusivity: spreading
the availability of the service and deepening the skills required
to take advantage of what is available. The noble Baroness has
indeed answered the first question I would challenge her with by
saying much of what was in my mind. But what about the users of
universal credit—a service that I understand is entirely online?
How do we measure the impact and the way that service is
proceeding to be sure that people are not disadvantaged and
marginalised because of the technology that they have to master?
One of the briefs I received in preparing for these questions
said that answers should be short, so the noble Lord can be
assured that my answer will not be 25 minutes long—it may be 25
words long. He is absolutely right to say that digital inclusion
matters particularly for those accessing government benefits and
services, as I know from my service in the Commons and from
supporting constituents in accessing universal credit. I
mentioned access through libraries, but there is also access
through job centres, and citizens advice bureaux provide a
service to support people who have never been online. Colleagues
in the Department for Work and Pensions take this very seriously,
because there is obviously no point in providing support for
people if they find they cannot access it or update their
records.
(LD)
My Lords, I too welcome the Secretary of State, who has now made
more comebacks than Frank Sinatra. I hope she will be there long
enough to follow the parallel to the ICO code, which was the work
of this House and of the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, in
particular. Will she support my paving Bill for a duty of care on
online harms, which will allow Ofcom to get ahead with
preparation for such legislation?
I thank the noble Lord. He will be pleased to know that since my
singing voice is nothing like Frank Sinatra’s, I will not inflict
it on your Lordships’ House. I was very interested to read about
his Bill. As he will know, the Government have done a significant
amount of work on the online harms space, and I hope we will be
able to work together. The Government intend to develop
legislation, so while I might not support his Bill, I think we
can absolutely make common cause on this very important issue.
(Con)
My Lords, I also welcome my noble friend to the Dispatch Box and
declare my interests as set out in the register. She has rightly
highlighted the digital divide. In the light of that, can I ask
her to have a gentle word with the BBC, while obviously
respecting its independence, to ask about its plans to switch off
the red button teletext service, which is a vital source of news
and information for many older and disabled people, and others
who find themselves on the wrong side of that digital divide?
I thank my noble friend, who has raised a very important issue. I
am having a number of words with the BBC at the moment—we may
come on to that in another Question in a moment. I take what he
has said. This is obviously a matter for the BBC but he is
absolutely right that, whether it is the BBC, the Government or
other institutions, be they private or public, accessibility for
everyone is very important regardless of disability, experience
or anything else. The Government have of course legislated to
make that clear.
