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Press release
8 December 2009

£30m to help 1m take part in Digital Britain

Yesterday's Smarter Government report announced new support for digital inclusion - to the tune of £30 million - for UK online centres.

UK online centres are a network of community based IT training and support centres across England. Managed by the central UK online centres organisation, over the next three years the funding will help engage and support one million extra people to get online and make the most of technology.

According to the latest research from the Champion for Digital Inclusion, there are currently one in five adults who still don't use computers and the internet. It's often the people facing the toughest times who have the most to gain from what technology has to offer, and as the internet rapidly becomes a tool for everyday life, those without the access, skills or motivation to use it are increasingly left behind.

Government figures indicate there are six milion adults currently offline who are socially and digitally excluded. Today, the Prime Minister made it clear that digital inclusion had become both an issue of social equity and economic common sense.

In his speech at the Royal Society of the Arts yesterday, Gordon Brown launched 'Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government'. He said: "Our aim is - within the next five years - to shift the great majority of our large transactional services to become online only - and this has the potential to save as a first step 400 million pounds but as transaction after transaction goes on line billions more....But in order to achieve our ambitions for this third generation of public services we must ensure that no one in Britain is left behind in this communications revolution. Through our programme for Digital Britain - high speed broadband will be extended to every home so that we can create genuinely interactive service... And today I can announce that we will invest a further £30 million with UK online centres, championed by Martha Lane Fox's digital inclusion taskforce, to get at least another one million people online by 2012."

In October 2009, a report published by Champion for Digital Inclusion Martha Lane Fox in conjunction with Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) showed the economic benefit of getting everyone online in the UK was £22 billion. As well as increasing employability and business performance, online citizens mean government can use more efficient online channels to deliver services, and conduct less face to face or paper-based transactions. PwC calculated that getting all digitally excluded people online and making just one transaction with government services each month would save £900 million annually.

The financial benefit of getting everyone in the UK online is clearly huge, but on a smaller scale the research found the benefits equally compelling. People save an average £560 a year by shopping and paying bills online, kids with internet access at home do better in their exams, and most jobs are now advertised and applied for online. What's more, people with basic IT skills earn up to 10% more than their offline counterparts.

Speaking about the funding, Lane Fox said: "There is both a moral and economic imperative for the wider community to take the issue of digital inclusion much more seriously. It is our job to champion the four million people in the UK who are currently socially and digitally excluded so that they too enjoy the benefits of being online. I welcome the news of the Prime Minister's plan to provide an extra £30 million in funding to UK online centres to help at least one million of this group to get online."

Helen Milner, Managing Director of UK online centres has been campaigning for digital inclusion for many years. She added: "Over the last year, there's been a flurry or interest in digital inclusion, and I'm delighted that's been backed up today with practical support. It's the best Christmas present I could possibly have wished for the sector, and in particular for the grassroots practitioners who will see the vast majority of this funding. Having an extra £30m will help those organisations and experts do what they do best, do more of it, in more places, with the help of more partners.

"UK online centres specialise in working with those who've never even touched a computer to build their confidence, get new skills and get excited about what technology has to offer. One million more people using the internet will be a significant step for the country, and will make a significant difference not just to the individuals involved but to their families, their employers and their communities."

The funding will support wider efforts by government to encourage digital participation, as outlines in the Digital Britain Report, published in June.

Ends

For more information please contact Abi Stevens on 0778 666 0689 or astevens@ufi.com

The basics

 

The centres

  • 3,500 UK online centre members out of a total of 6,000 public access points
  • The centres are operated by the voluntary and community sector, public libraries and a small number of schools, colleges and private training providers.
  • The centres are all independently operated and brought together in a network supported with key digital inclusion products and services.
  • UK online centres can be found in a range of community venues like libraries, schools, mosques, temples, job clubs, housing associations, sheltered housing units, community centres, SureStart centres, Age Concern, MIND, YMCA and learndirect centres.
  • Currently, about 400 centres a year receive grants to support their digital inclusion work.

The users

  • 75% of centre users are digitally excluded
  • One third have no formal qualifications
  • More than half of users earn less than £10,000 per year
  • 74% of users are not in paid employment
  • 44% of people completing learning in UK online centres go onto purchase a computer and the internet
  • 98% of people who use the centres rate the service as good or excellent.

 

Digital inclusion

  • The government recommended the role of a Champion for Digital Inclusion who would be independent of government, industry and the third sector. Martha Lane Fox was delighted to accept this role in June 2009 for a period of two years
  • The Digital Inclusion Taskforce is a cross departmental government funded but independent organisation set up by Martha Lane Fox to support her work as the UK's Champion for Digital Inclusion
  • The Digital Inclusion Taskforce is independent of government and will build partnerships across the public, private and third sectors to support the 10.2 million people in the UK who don't benefit from online technologies. Digital Inclusion will particularly focus on the new tools that can help the most vulnerable 4 million people of this group.
  • Martha Lane Fox co-founded lastminute.com, Europe's largest travel and leisure website, in 1998, then went on to co-found and chair the private karaoke chain, Lucky Voice. In 2007 she launched Antigone, a grant-giving foundation that supports education, health and criminal justice charities to reflect her commitment to social justice. She is non-executive director at Marks & Spencer plc, Channel 4 Television and Mydeco.

 

PwC research

  • The overall potential economic benefit of getting everyone online is in excess of £22bn, and is made up as follows:

 

 

Annual saving (£ billion)

Lifetime saving (£ billion)

Online shopping

4.50

8.85

Home access for children

 

10.80

Improved ICT skills for the employed

 

0.56

Improved access to employment for the unemployed

 

0.56

Government efficiencies

0.90

1.77


22.54

 

  • Research was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) between 16th September and 9th October 2009.
  • The PwC research estimates the potential benefits to individuals, government and the wider economy of getting more people online.
  • The research focuses on four key areas of potential benefit: education and employment; health and wellbeing; transforming contact and transactions with government and online shopping.
  • Previous research on digital inclusion has tended to focus on social and consumer benefits. This is the first time that research has brought together the economic case for getting more people online.
  • The research defines a person as offline if they have never used the internet: in addition to the 10 million adults who have never used the internet, there are nearly two million adults who have not used the internet in the last three months.
  • Whether a person is socially excluded is based on several factors including income, employment status, health and education.
  • Evidence that access to a computer and the internet can boost children's educational performance and lifetime earnings has been used to underpin the Government's case for the Home Access Programme: it has been used as the basis for estimating the benefit of extending similar access across all digitally excluded children.
  • The consumer saving of £560 a year is an average across all digitally excluded households: for the 20% of households on the lowest incomes, the average saving is £300 a year.
  • The consumer saving is equivalent to around £3 in every £100.
  • The biggest consumer savings are estimated to come from purchases of energy, insurance, clothing and package holidays.
  • The estimates of consumer savings are based on work undertaken for the Post Office.
  • Evidence from research by the Centre for the Economics of Education suggests that ICT skills can help individuals to earn 3-10% more than their peers without such skills.
  • Each person who can improve their ICT skills by moving online can expect to increase their lifetime earnings by over £8,000.
  • If 5% of digitally excluded unemployed could find work by using job websites it would deliver an estimated £560million to the UK economy.
  • Providing online access has the potential to reduce some of the barriers to unemployed people finding work: the estimated benefits are based on 5% of the digitally and socially excluded unemployed being able to find work more quickly.
  • It is estimated that the benefit to the UK economy would be between £560 million and £1.3billion from moving adults online and into employment depending how effective any support is.
  • Government can potentially save between £3.30 and £12.00 for each offline contact which is moved online.
  • If all 10 million digitally excluded adults could undertake one more contact or transaction online each month (rather than relying on offline channels), this would save at least £900 million a year in customer contact costs
  • For more information visit www.raceonline2012.org

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