Event Report: The Digital Inclusion APPG’s Third State of the Nation Report
On Wednesday 9th October, the Digital Inclusion APPG held its third annual State of the Nation Report launch. The Report sets out the Group’s findings in its first year since being renamed from the Data Poverty APPG, and set out eight recommendations for the new Government.
The full report can be found here.
The reception was hosted by the APPG Officer Baroness Verma. Speakers included Minister for Data Protection and Telecomms Sir Chris Bryant MP, Shadow Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Saqib Bhatti MP, Policy & Public Affairs Lead at Nominet, Alishah Shariff, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at BT, Alex Towers , Director of Evidence and Engagement at Good Things Foundation, Emma Stone, Director of FE, Skills and Training at Jisc, Paul McKean, Head of External Affairs at Virgin Money UK, Tamara Dewhirst ,Director of Public Affairs and Regional Affairs at Virgin Media 02, Simon Miller, Government Affairs Manager at Vodafone Vanessa Higham, and Digital Inclusion APPG Chair, Dan Aldridge MP.
Please see below for the minutes of the report launch:
Baroness Verma opened the session welcoming the attendees and Minister Bryant, outlining his background as an MP and working for the BBC.
Minister for Data Protection and Telecomms Sir Chris Bryant MP opened his remarks thanking Shadow Technology Minister Saqib Bhatti MP for attending, noting that he hoped to collaborate where possible with the whole Shadow DSIT (Department for Science, Innovation and technology) team to design adequate solutions to digital exclusion.
He noted that within his own constituency of Rhondda and Ogmore, issues spawning from digital exclusion were written large. , He stated his personal goal to build economic growth and digital confidence into every corner of the country. He also noted that 19% of the poorest homes have no home internet. This, he said, has negative impacts on children accessing schoolwork, only further entrenching the online and economic divide in the UK.
He next noted that the urban – rural divide with digital exclusion is complex, aseven in some of the most centralised urban areas of the UK, digital exclusion is at its worst, not because of signal access, but because of factors like income, confidence, language, ethnicity and age. Therefore, he noted, trust is the most important first step to take when curating digital inclusion initiatives especially in relation to accessing important documents or online banking. Moving onto cost, he said that whilst a good step, the rollout of social tariffs still represents a high figure (£15) for those families on low incomes.
Minister Bryant subsequently confirmed that his Department was looking at all of these issues hand in hand and that they were are keen to begin consulting on a comprehensive and updated digital inclusion strategy – with clear and actionable deliverables. Admitting that the House of Lords had made more progress in the area of inclusion that the House of Commons, the Minister called on all attendees in the room to get in touch pledging that DSIT would be in the business of gathering ideas when creating the strategy.
Minister Bryant then opened up the floor for questions from attendees in the room.
Head of Research for Digital Policy at Demos Hannah Perry asked what cross- departmental initiatives the Government were working on to promote digital inclusion.
Minister Bryant noted that in his Ministerial role, he had responsibilities across DSIT and DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sports) and that this interconnection reflected the Government’s commitment to tackling societal issues like digital exclusion in a cross-departmental fashion. He gave the example that he works regularly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to ensure that smart meters are more efficient and accessible, as well as with the Department for Transport to rollout better Wi-Fi on trains. He concluded by saying that having a mission-driven government is crucial for cross-departmental working and that the Prime Minister regularly holds his team to account on whether they are working with other Departments enough.
Council Member at BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT Dave Donaghy asked what the short-term deliverable is for tdigital inclusion.
Minister Bryant said he would work to deliver a Digital Inclusion Strategy as his main goal. This would however sit alongside a series of other short term deliverables around access – as suggested by the House of Lords report.
Distribution Controller at the BBC Helen Burrows asked if there was an audit of existing programmes in DSIT.
Minister Bryant confirmed that all DSIT programmes were under active review. He subsequently also confirmed that an internal unit had been set up concentrating on efficacy and efficiency of all programmes within the Department. This unit is in the process of evidence gathering currently, he added. Rounding up the questions section, Minister Bryant thanked all attendees and expressed his desire to attend the APPG in the future.
Baroness Verma thanked Minister Bryant. and introduced Shadow DSIT Minister Saqib Bhatti MP to speak.
Saqib Bhatti MP opened his remarks thanking Baroness Verma for her hard work with the APPG.He stated his desire to work with Minister Bryant to hold him account in the future. He continued by referencing the fact that on the day of the last APPG meeting he was present at, he had just instructed his officials to refresh the national digital inclusion strategy,something that was overshadowed by the calling of the General Election. Agreeing with the Minister, he welcomed the work the Lords had done in the area and admitted that 10 years had been too long a gap between national strategies.
Mr Bhatti also shared that earlier that morning his team had published a letter to the Minister calling for a strategy refresh, meaning he genuinely welcomed the Minister’s comments to the group. He also revealed that whilst in Government, he was going to put in a request for increased funding assistance for digital inclusion initiatives at the spending review.
Mr Bhatti continued by referencing a study which found that groups such as Britain’s elderly and the vulnerable need additional help with accessing online platforms especially with rural broadband access. Concluding , Mr Bhatti thanked all attendees in the room for their work championing this cause and re-emphasised his willingness to continue working with the Government to hold them to account in this space.
Baroness Verma thanked Saqib Bhatti for his contributions and noted her happiness that there were so many Parliamentarians in the room, paying particular attention to Lord Clement Jones – who is an Officer of the APPG. She noted that building on the work done by the previous Government, it's good to see what the Minister is doing in relation to setting up a new digital inclusion strategy.
Baroness Verma continued by saying the State of the Nation report launch was the 4th event the APPG had had this year in Parliament and that the report’s contents had built on the themes of the last three. Working under a redefined scope – as the Digital Inclusion APPG – she also told attendees that the APPG’s report recognises the evolving causes and impacts of exclusion as well as the need for effective leadership from Government. She thanked all attendees and contributors as well as former Co-Chairs Matt Warman MP and Julie Elliott MP. Finally, she welcomed Alishah Shariff, Policy & Public Affairs Lead at Nominet to speak to the group.
Alishah Shariff started her speech by thanking the APPG’s Officers Baroness Verma and Lord Clement Jones for their contributions over the last few years. She noted that as the Official registry for .UK domain names, Nominet works to ensure the internet benefits everyone in society – meaning she wholly welcomes the report and its recommendations. Alishah added that 22% of the population lacked the skills to access basic services such as ordering a prescription online. Additionally, she shared that within the 2023 Digital Youth Index, it had become clear that digital exclusion had evolved into being both structural and circumstantial, and can evolve and change week to week, even hour to hour for some families who are on the move a lot . Additionally, she said that many young people can be both excluded and included on a rotational on-off basis as their access to data is not stable and dependent on location and circumstance, and that this has to be factored into the upcoming national strategy. To conclude, she argued that as the State of the Nation report highlights, a long-term strategy for digital inclusion is needed, and said she was encouraged by Minister Bryant’s plans for this,and to hear digital inclusion is central to the Government’s five missions.
Alex Towers, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at BT opened his remarks by expressing that it was great to witness the consensus on this issue across both parties and industry. He posited that technology ought to be a great leveller socially and economically, but inequality of access had harmed progress on the issue. He subsequently argued that the future of education is about curating digital personalised learning journeys, but at current rates, this was not feasible. Whilst in the past exclusion was a geographic problem, bigger issues had come to the forefront now such as poverty, confidence and skills. To conclude, he referenced how the Covid experience was a serious wake up to the industry that work on this issue permeates across all demographics in society and different levels. Agreeing with Minister Bryant he also noted that whilst social tariffs are a good first step, they are only a safety net and the £15 limit is not enough.
Director of Evidence and Engagement at the Good Things Foundation Emma Stone began by sharing that on 14th October, the group will launch ‘Get Online Week’, and expressed her wish that the week would prove the need to land the points of affordability and community support. She added that these two issues were clear priorities for Good Things Foundation. Referencing the multi-dimensional element of exclusion, she also said that digital exclusion is not only a barrier but had also evolved into tipping people into economic hardship. For example, if you are excluded, it is likely you can’t claim your entitled amount of benefit support and receive little assistance from the banks. She highlighted the encouraging step of both the current serving Minister and Shadow Minister speaking at the APPG alongside Baroness Verma, and expressed her excitement about making change happen through the APPG – calling it an exciting moment for the campaign for greater digital inclusion.
Head of Further Education and Skills at Jisc Paul McKean opened his speech stating that Jisc’s main goal is to help students and learners become connected and confident digitally. Suggesting that the problem of connectivity is far more ubiquitous among the student population, Paul referenced a recent survey which found that 60% of all learners reported connectivity issues in the UK. Meanwhile, according to the same study, 45% of Further Education (FE) and 42% of Higher Education learners face issues with mobile data access. Given these worrying statistics, he told attendees that Jisc intends to extend eduroam beyond university campuses and focus on public transport provision too. He added there remain issues with device access with learners. He went on to point out that 34% of learners say accessing a quality device is an issue, while 5% of all learners in FE learn through a phone. Despite the risks around generative AI, Paul added that it was having a positive impact with vulnerable and disabled learners, assisting learners with proof reading and the understanding of new topics. Concluding his remarks, he noted that Jisc would like to push for AI literacy to be placed in the skills framework and digital skills to be integrated into the national curriculum.
Head of External Affairs at Virgin Money UK Tamara Dewhirst began by saying that, as the newest members of the APPG, she was very keen for Virgin Money to work with other industry members to tackle the problems already highlighted around digital exclusion. She added that the gap between those included and excluded had become worryingly stark -for example, those in the North East, Scotland and Yorkshire all experience extremely high rates of exclusion compared to those in London and the South East. She then outlined that through a partnership with Good Things Foundation, each Virgin Money store now has a national data bank, distributing free sim cards – even to those who don’t use Virgin Money as their Telecomms supplier. She agreed with the Minister that a national governmental strategy was required but added that it needed to complement existing initiatives, especially around financial inclusion.
Director of Public Affairs and Regional Affairs at Virgin Media 02 Simon Miller welcomed the new report, suggesting it represented exactly what Virgin Media 02 and the other members of the APPG had been campaigning for. He then paid tribute to the previous Officers at the APPG as well as former Co-Chairs Matt Warman MP, Julie Elliott MP and Darren Jones MP and noted his optimism regarding the Group’s new Co-Chairs. He continued by saying Virgin Media 02 had set up a data bank and recycling programme internally and introduced 5 volunteering days a year for employees to help the digitally vulnerable. He concluded by expressing his tencouragement at seeing the convening powers of the new Government as well as the cross party support a new digital inclusion strategy has.
Government Affairs Manager at Vodafone Vanessa Higham stated that Vodafone were proud to be part of the APPG, as digital inclusion initiatives are embedded within Vodafone’s strategy. She told attendees four million people and businesses will be connected by next year through Vodafone schemes, and through their work with Good Things Foundation and the various metro mayors, Vodafone has pledged to invest £11bn to rollout standalone 5G across UK once their merger with ‘3’ goes through. From here, she said she was looking forward to finding out about the Governmental direction for digital inclusion and was looking forward to co-convening a long-run model in the sector.
Newly elected Digital Inclusion APPG Co-Chair Daniel Aldridge MP provided the concluding remarks by thanking all attendees, and outlining his optimism for the Group’s future. He added that his industry background at the BCS had driven his passion for improving inclusion and pointed out that there is a real energy and excitement among the new intake of Labour MPs in the area. Promising that the House of Commons would be accelerating this issue as it had social justice at its core, he posited that pragmatism, and collaboration would be front-and-centre of the APPG’s engagement plans. He concluded by promising that under his Co-Chairmanship, the APPG would not be ideological and would seek to pioneer change for everyone, engaging stakeholders on all sides of the political spectrum.