The CLG minister's full speech from National Digital Inclusion 09 conference, including the Digital Mentors announcement
"First of all, I want to congratulate everyone on their stamina - a fantastic effort has been put in over past two days. And no doubt you are relieved to know that I am just about the last Minister you will hear from at this event - and no power point, just the power of persuasion!
It's clear looking at the conference programme over these last two days this is a genuinely important conference - not least as for the first time I think you / we have explored the complex interactions between digital and social exclusion - perhaps / I hope this conference is a watershed when we will begin to see digital exclusion as important an influence on social exclusion as unemployment or low income.
And that is the measure of the journey so far, and it is at this level of interaction and impact - as digital exclusion is experienced by individuals and by communities - and in terms of democracy as well as service delivery - that we at CLG have most interest.
So I'm pleased to be here today to highlight the progress we have made one year on from when I last spoke to this audience.
And I am really delighted that CLG has supported the development of a number of delivery tools and initiatives that are live - out there - ready and waiting to be taken up - and I want to point you to a few of those tools and bang the drum for the work CLG has been doing in partnership with local government and other partners. I want to celebrate what we have now achieved, one year later.
So on with the sales pitch and where to start - why not with research on Information and Solutions on Digital Inclusion."
Research
"One of the most important things I think we have done is to explore the social implications of exclusion from an information society - namely to start to take apart some of the assumptions about who is excluded or included and why; and how social and digital exclusion poses a toxic compound.
We said in our report commissioned from the Oxford lnternet Institute (An Analysis of Social Disadvantage and the Information Society) which I hope you have all seen...its on our stand...
It's a strong statement. But its backed up by the findings of this report which make clear not only the real scale of digital exclusion - 17 million people are not online - but the less familiar detail of some of the 6 million of whom are socially and digitally excluded and who are very vulnerable - and they include, for example, as other research shows, ex-offenders and those with mental health problems.
Some of our research findings challenge assumptions of mainstream policy delivery and demonstrate the requirement for appropriate forms of ICT and training tailored to individual and group needs.
And some of the research is what, frankly, we would expect; that those who suffer deep social disadvantage are up to 7 times more likely to be disengaged from the internet than those who are socially advantaged.
But digital inequalities, like all inequalities, are infinitely more complex than may at first appear, and the research looks both at those who are 'unexpectedly engaged' as well as those who are 'unexpectedly disengaged' - and who may or may not have made a conscious choice not to use the internet.
So it is not only that the people who could most benefit are least likely to benefit from the very applications that could help them tackle disadvantage.
The most significant lesson is that simply providing access is not enough. Digital disengagement is a complex compound problem - involving cultural, social and attitudinal factors - all of which mean that not only are we still not reaching the socially excluded, but we have a long way to go.
The research also reveals the 'true picture' of digital exclusion is that 4 million adults who suffer from 'deep' social exclusion - that is they have a severe combination of social disadvantages - have no meaningful engagement with Internet -based services at all.
And there are other myths to be demolished too.
For example the twittering and blogging classes who tend to dominate the media agenda and which tends to suggest that everyone is digitally engaged - is anything but the truth - we know from our research that only 8 per cent of the population (and only 11 per cent of all internet users) even use social networking applications."
Good practice
"But moving on - to promote the spread of good practice late last year we also launched the Solutions4Inclusion website (external link) - which now holds details of over 950 digital inclusion projects (and this is rising), provided by local authorities, strategic partners and the third sector, with on average, 500 people per week visiting the site.
For example, if you search the site by say 'unemployment and youth offending' you will find a project by 'Rolling Sound' called 'Soul Control' - which uses a life like computer game for teenagers to warn their peers about the dangers of knife crime. [a project incidentally supported by Jim Knights department - you see we are very joined up!]
Information on the Solutions4Inclusion website is at the CLG stand.
But what else: Well in March we announced the winners of the Digital Inclusion Beacons - 4 winners - Staffordshire Moorlands, Sunderland, Solihul and Stratford upon the Avon. So a very big well done to them.
So what can we learn - what are the key ingredients for success here?
Well looking at these Beacons what is interesting is that they are 4 quite different local authorities with mixes of rural and urban areas and different local problems - but they do have some key approaches in common.
And I can summarise these as:
* leadership that inspires and supports innovators and demonstrates a clear vision or strategy
* they have taken real Action on the ground to understand the needs of vulnerable groups
* they have had effective Community Engagement ensuring citizen are at the heart of service
design
* and finally they all had effective Partnerships across the public, private and third sector
And how do you measure that success? Well I am delighted to say that one of the tools we have developed is a 'Beacon Checklist' tool - that you can use to assess and review your digital inclusion 'beacon' status - which can help you to realise the opportunities around technology and social inclusion.
And delegates attending the CLG stand over the last two days have been able to get a personalised 'health check' against Beacon standards while they are here and have it emailed to them afterwards!
So are you up to the standard? Information on this tool is at the CLG stand.
And of course progress continues with the DC10plus (Digital Challenge 10plus), the 10 local authorities and their partners who were the winner and runners up in CLG's 2007 Digital Challenge Competition and the Digital Challenge Winners themselves - Sunderland.
I recently visited Sunderland and saw for myself the difference that being able to access email makes to people who in their real lives are isolated and lack confidence. People whose families have moved away or whose families are in other continents; young men and women looking for ways to enhance their skills and find jobs. And in an area which looks and is still rundown, a centre providing warmth, stimulation, and skills to share.
These working partnerships, and projects such as Digital Communities, Community e-Champions and Hexagon Virtual networking has meant that Sunderland continues to engage and empower the most disadvantaged and excluded citizens.
The DC10 authorities, in each of the English Regions, have also been making excellent progress. They have done just what we wanted them to.
In particular they have been working together to focus on using ICT to:
* create jobs, such as homeshoring remote call centres and flexible working initiatives
* supporting the development and roll-out of Next Generation Connectivity through
wireless and broadband
* and investing in the further roll and development of Digital TV
On this last point I was really pleased to visit the 'Looking Local' service by Kirklees Council and DigiTV - an initiative which really excites me, and one which provides access to local authority services, choice-based lettings, telehealth, JobCentre plus ,story telling across the community and other services through an interactive set-top box or mobile phone.
Since that visit, even more organisations are using digi TV to deliver services to their residents - it is now in use by 85 local authorities, housing associations and other local public service partners.
DigiTV recently conducted a survey, which showed that 70 per cent of the people using the service don't have access to a PC or broadband at home and 46 per cent use the service daily, so its clearly reaching those that really need it.
It's also helping people to find employment - 23 per cent of users reported that they had found a job through the services that Job Centre Plus offers on the platform.
This is a real achievement - and a real initiative that can help to cross the digital divide - usable, practical and familiar. And it teaches an invaluable lesson; that the technologies and training that is provided must start from where people are and where they want to get to… For people who do not want a 3 gigabyte monster computer with Power point and Excel- when all they want to do is contact their GP or email their grandchildren. As much as for those whose aspirations are to be webmasters.
In going forward the DC10plus is now looking to extend and expand it's growing network to include all Local Authorities to take further the growing Digital Inclusion agenda and I am pleased to announce that I intend to provide a further small amount of money for this year to ensure that the benefits of what they have developed can be made as widely available as possible."
What's next?
"So to wind up - so what's next in this ferment of opportunity. I want to highlight 3 initiatives.
Firstly, as you may know, we now have a network of digital advisers in place. These advisors are now working with the Local Strategic Partnerships such as Birmingham and Nottingham to offer coaching, training and mentoring to those who want to make better use of 'digital inclusion' initiatives to improve their delivery and performance of public services, against the new performance framework and the Local Area Agreements.
The advisors will offer standard but tailored digital inclusion solutions and they will make use of a number of the tools I have mentioned today.
Please do make use of them, and you should know that their service are available free though the Regional Efficiency and Improvement Partnerships.
Secondly, I am really pleased to be able to formally announce today a little more detail on a new Digital Mentors programme, a two-year nationwide programme in England jointly funded by my Department and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).
We will be working with the Media Trust to engage, equip and skill up those citizens who feel unheard or voiceless with the digital tools to express and exchange views on issues of relevance to them and to increase individual and community empowerment.
The scheme will provide funding for 26 grass roots groups throughout England from July 2009.
It will also provide a further 40 grants to communities and individuals to work on specific digital media projects and provide comprehensive tools and resources for communities and community organisations of all sizes to increase engagement through digital media.
An exciting initiative that again I would urge you to get involved with.
And thirdly and finally, I would like to tell you about a brand new initiative that will help to deliver digital inclusion to even more members of our society.
Working with Helen Milner and UK Online Centres we have established a social landlords working group, which will meet for the first time in the next few weeks and will bring together some of the largest organisations and their representative bodies, who are already recognised innovators, to discuss how they can make a contribution to reducing digital exclusion amongst their residents.
This is about targeted work to tackle those groups who are most excluded - and we know that 70 per cent of people who live in social housing are digitally excluded - and 28 per cent of everyone who is digitally excluded live in social housing - startling figures -and something we need to take action on.
You have heard enough from me (and all my colleagues I suspect) - so that end my sales pitch - I just want to say - I hope I do not sound to much like someone from the apprentice - but please go away - use our products - make it happen - this stuff works.
Thank you."
