MEASURES BEING TAKEN TO BRIDGE THE GAP LOCALLY
- The government is to spend £30m over the next three years to bring broadband access to schoolchildren and low-income families. A further £600,000 has also been earmarked to subsidise home computers for entire year groups at 50 education institutions across the country, schools minister Jim Knight told an education conference last week. The plan is the government’s latest attempt to bridge the digital divide between those with access to technology and those without. The government has already invested £5bn in IT for schools since 1997 and another £837 m is budgeted over the next three years.
- What is Go ON UK? Go ON UK is an agile cross-sector digital skills charity established by Baroness Lane-Fox in 2012.Go ON UK is a partnership organisation and has the chief executives of nine major organisations around its boardroom table – Age UK, Argos, BBC, Big Lottery Fund, E.ON, EE, Lloyds Banking Group, Post Office and TalkTalk. Working with its partners, Go ON UK’s vision is to empower everyone in the UK to reach their digital potential. What is the problem that Go ON UK hopes to solve?Despite having lower barriers in terms of access and cost than many similar European countries, the number of adults aged 16-24 in England without Basic Digital Skills is double the number in Germany and triple the number in France. In total, one in five UK adults still don’t have the Basic Digital Skills they need to benefit from the digital world. That means they are unable to complete everyday tasks such as communicating, finding the right information, or carrying out a transaction such as shopping safely online or via an app. Lack of Basic Digital Skills is a significant social issue, and reducing the numbers has huge potential benefits. It has been estimated that the annual social value of every individual getting online for the first time is £1,064.This issue also affects the UK’s businesses and charities, with 31% of organizations still lacking Basic Digital Skills. Yet the potential for this market is huge.
MEASURES BEING TAKEN TO BRIDGE THE GAP |
PAGE 1 |