A high level of digital exclusion is undermining the government’s ambitions to make Britain a tech powerhouse, according to a House of Lords report. Overall, digital skills shortages are costing the economy up to £63 billion a year, the report says.
The report, released today, covers the findings of a survey of aristocrats on “digital exclusion and cost of living” conducted by the Senate Communications and Digital Committee. This study was designed to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis have impacted the digital divide, the disparity between those who have access to digital technologies and products and those who do not2. started in May.
The commission said the scale of the problem was “a direct result of political lethargy” and that the government had no “credible plan” to tackle digital exclusion. This runs counter to the current administration’s pledge to boost economic growth and have the UK recognized as a tech powerhouse by 2030.
The commission said in its report that the government’s failure to take firm action on digital exclusion costs the UK economy £63 billion a year, impacting economic growth, public health and improving standards. Stated. They are urgently calling for a new digital inclusion strategy (the last one was announced almost a decade ago) and investing in basic digital skills and strengthening their digital inclusion hubs. He also said governments need to better understand the use of predictive machine learning tools in public services so that digitally excluded people are not further marginalized by skewed datasets.
The digital skills gap will get even worse by 2030
As part of its report, the Commission warned about figures on the extent of the digital gap in the UK, particularly in terms of digital skills.
They found that 4 million people are still unable to complete a single basic digital task to get online, and 7 million households lack access to broadband or mobile Internet access. This costs the economy billions of dollars each year, and the commission predicts that 5 million people in the workforce will face severe skills shortages by 2030.
The report also says that 90% of jobs are advertised only online, resulting in many missed opportunities if they don’t have internet access.
But the digital divide is also affecting businesses, leaving jobs unfilled. techUK’s Digital Economy Monitor report found that 57% of his IT companies in the UK believe the shortage of digital talent is the biggest barrier for their companies.Writer tech monitor “This is creating a vicious circle, with fewer people getting the jobs we desperately need to keep innovating,” Sheila Frabel, chairman of tech trade group techUK, said in November. said. Over time, this will slow the pace of innovation and constrain economic growth as we face a cost of living crisis. “
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The commission also warned that governments should not assume that digital exclusion will be resolved once older generations leave the workplace. Baroness Stowell of Beeston, chairman of the commission, said digital exclusion was a “moving target” and that technological developments required people to use IT with confidence at work and at home.
“Young people cannot be assumed to be digital natives without the need to acquire new skills,” she warned. “We need to ensure that everyone, of all ages, has the digital skills they need to do their jobs, and the opportunity to continue to develop those skills as technology changes.”
Digital healthcare services may be out of reach for target users
Dr. Charles Levinson, medical director of medical platform Doctorcall, said: tech monitor Digital exclusion is a “serious problem” for the healthcare industry, he said, adding that government officials may not understand the impact of digital exclusion on the vulnerable and older in society.
“I don’t think everyone has the ability and knowledge to operate the latest smartphones,” he says. “Telemedicine will play a role in healthcare […] But we must always be aware of its limitations and provide options and support for the non-tech savvy to make sure people don’t feel left out. ”
Levinson warns that governments cannot ignore this significant proportion of society when planning health policies, especially if this group is “extremely in need of care.”
That’s what the commission’s report found, warning that public and private organizations’ use of machine learning in their products and services will further harm digitally excluded groups. They were also concerned that these people were “underrepresented” in the dataset and likely to be further marginalized as a result.
A New Cross-Government Unit Is Needed to Address Digital Exclusion and Poverty
The report also called on the government to create a new department to tackle digital exclusion and called on the prime minister’s office to have a “direct interest” in revising the strategy.
Baroness Stowell said of the government’s inaction: “The government has audacious ambitions to make the UK a tech powerhouse and a hub for AI development, but it cannot deliver an exciting digital future if the skills of its five million workers are in short supply. “Digital. “
He said efforts to eliminate digital were “less attractive than looking for the next tech unicorn”, but the government could not expect the UK to compete as a global player without “getting the basics right”. rice field.
According to the report, this was all due to a “clear lack of leadership” by the government in tackling digital exclusion, and Stowell said the situation needed to be “understood” now. As part of its recommendations, the committee said the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) was “not confident” in making digital exclusion a priority in policymaking, and there was no formal framework for collaborative research. said. Coordinating policies, updating targets or reviewing progress at governmental or ministerial level.
DSIT recommended the establishment of a “cross-governmental digital exclusion unit” tasked with coordinating external stakeholders and working across sectors to integrate digital exclusion into priority policy areas. These include economic growth, leveling up, public health, education and skills, employment and welfare.
tech monitor has contacted DSIT regarding its response to this report.
Elizabeth Anderson, interim CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, said the organization is encouraged by the report’s findings, but that it must take concrete action. In its research, the non-profit provided evidence for government digital inclusion strategies and calls for help for those without essential digital skills.
“We live in a digital economy, where access to and technology-related skills are required to participate in basic daily activities that many of us take for granted. We need it,” said Anderson. “For the UK to reach its goal of becoming a technology and science superpower, more needs to be done to help the inaccessible. It also helps support growth.”
