Bridging the Digital Divide

Conference notes with regret:

A. That the UK Government has missed the targets of their 2014 Digital Inclusion Strategy, which sought to reduce the number of people offline by 25% every 2 years.

B. That 7% of adults in Wales or 180,000 people, are not using the internet today.

C. That the Welsh Government acknowledges that digitally excluded people are likely to be: older adults, people with disabilities or long-term health conditions, those with lower educational attainment, lower income individuals and families, people in rural areas, homeless people, socially isolated and lonely people, Welsh speaking people and others who do not use English as their first language.

D. The increase in vital services delivered online e.g. GP appointments, and banking and work/pandemic impact is excluding vulnerable people.

E. That Wales is the only part nation in the UK with less than 50% of houses being able to access gigabit-capable services.

Conference believes:

i. Digital exclusion is caused by barriers to access information and communications technology and in using information and communications technology, which can result in a divide in the benefit from information and communications technology.

ii. Access to information and communications technology and the right to information should be a basic human right, where no part of Wales or group in society is left behind.

iii. Governments are not only failing to explain the concept of digital inclusion but are also failing to monitor it.

iv. A multi age and diverse approach to tackle digital exclusion in Wales is needed.

Conference calls on Welsh Councils to:

1. Establish DataBanks in their council area.

2. Ensure every library is an “Online Centre” with their services correctly declared on the Online Centres Network and on Councils’ websites.

3. Undertake an evaluation into the accessibility of council web services.

4. Support organizations to set up bilingual coding clubs within the county.

Conference calls on the Welsh Government to:

I. Set up indicators that identify digital inclusion and start taking regular and systematic measurements that are comparable over time. This should particularly focus on Digital capability and Digital consequences, focused on potentially digitally excluded sub-groups of citizens.

II. Establish indicators and monitor the quality of the digital solutions, focusing on the quality and complexity that people encounter when using public digital services.

III. Clarify the organizational responsibility for digital inclusion monitoring, policy development and implementation in Councils.

IV. Work with local authorities to extend the “Digital Heros” project across Wales.

Conference calls on the UK Government to:

a. Establish a network of local authorities using the WLGA, COSLA, and LGA to tackle digital exclusion at a local level.

b. Aid Devolved Governments in the sharing of best practice.

c. Establish catch-up zones for targeted investment to deliver usable internet speeds across the nations.

d. Consider bringing back 100% business rates relief on new fibre connections.