(Elyn Corfield)
Welcome to the North East Big Conversation event, we're hosting a few of these, hosted by Lloyds Banking Group thank you for agreeing to join us today, wonderful to have so many of you on so before we kick off the round table. I just wanted to give you a bit of background really to the event, it's a series of events that we're doing on Big Conversation events across the country hoping to understand the challenges, opportunities, critical areas of support needed, and explore really the best road to economic recovery for the UK as well as the North East region. And by listening to the views of key stakeholders including MPs, trade bodies, policymakers across the regions, we want to identify it being a potential recommendation for public policy and support and economic recovery. findings from all the events including today's will be shared across the UK's nations and regions later this year as well. But the focus is today this event is really bridging the digital divide, and boosting social mobility in the region which we know from our work in this space represents a significant challenge, which I know many of us will be aware of.
And for context, just from some research, so our consumer digital index research conducted earlier this year it showed that the seventeen percent of those surveyed in the region lack the digital skills needed for everyday life, and twelve percent are unable to connect a device to Wi-Fi, to Wi-Fi network, and eleven percent are unable to turn on a device and log onto accounts or profiles that they have.
So, you can see some of the stats there are really quite eye opening and I think that really brings it inside, it's like because everything today you know you need to do in life, revolves around the internet, and it's only become more advanced and integral to everyday life. So, running a home, having a career, social life or anything in between is really dependent on having that connection, and a device.
Being unable to afford digital equipment or reliable technology, has been especially damaging for low income families I think that's become more prevalent recently with the disruption of children's education, and the ability to live something of a normal life during the pandemic. Today I really want to discuss the effects of digital poverty on low income households in the North East, and explore how digital connectivity access to devices digital skills can increase social mobility, and how different sectors like ourselves can work together and give households the access they need to really close that gap, that's in essence our focus for today anything I've touched on their Jemma you'd want to add to at all?
(Jemma Waters)
No, so I think that’s a really helpful framing of why this is such an important you know such an important topic for the area. I guess if I consider the backdrop that that sits within you know, that same piece of research we conduct on an annual basis just to help us understand the scale of the challenge in the UK, and this year it's shown that there are nine million people across the UK that can't access the Internet or turn on a device by themselves, you know when you think about what it means for the North East but what that means for the UK in general, as you say EIyn I guess it's just such a scale of you know just such a challenge given so much of what we're looking at the moment does feel like it is being created as kind of digital by default.
And with the lockdowns that are underway, if you think about what lack of the Internet means, I mean for those of us who spend hours in front of a screen every day, we might whinge about the fact that we're using it for work connecting to technology constantly but actually just imagine the alternative. Some of the stories that we hear from communities around inability to access schoolwork, inability to communicate with isolated friends, family you know the ability or the lack of to connect with your job and take work home to, so many people that's just not an option, and I think that's why we picked this is one of the key challenges and topics that we wanted to talk about as part of the big conversation because it feels like something for many people in the UK that we now just take for granted but actually for so many people it's a lifeline that they just don't have.
(Elyn Corfield)
So, Julie, I was going to ask you this one just from what you've seen, as part of digital skills, a PPG and also the DCMS Select Committee, what do you see in at a national level with regards to in particular disconnection?
(Julie Elliott)
Well, it where do I start? I think the COVID crisis has brought into stark reality what we thought we knew was happening in any case, that there was this digital divide that stop people being upwardly socially mobile. However, what the crisis has shown is the situation is far worse than any of us ever thought. So, if you looked before the numbers of people who said they had access to the Internet or whatever, the figures were reasonably high. But what that in reality has meant is a lot of people maybe had a smartphone with a limited amount of data which is not being digitally connected. And I think from what we've looked at in the all-party group, and on the Select Committee, is that really we're looking at about a quarter of the population either don't have the devices they need, so they may have one device in a household of five people, which if you've got children having to school from home during the crisis that is useless. Or they may have devices, but they don't have the data and they don't have the money to get the data. And that's putting to one side the infrastructure barriers which have come into play as well, where basically you know some of our connectivity with fibre broadband or 5G or whatever, has not been up to scratch across the piece, it's been a very patchy basis for us to start and get connected.
(Chi Onwurah)
That was the point I want to make, we want to be creating technology, creating great start-up companies in our region, and for that we need everyone to see themselves as being tech literate, and not having the skills and particularly just finally so very poor.
But you know the increase in scams, the criminal element has taken notice that we've moved online and crime is followed people online as well and so the lack of sort of cyber skills and cyber defence easily accessible. Cyber defences are another barrier to making this a truly kind of digital region where we generate as well as consumed technology.
(Adam Micklethwaite)
So three policy recommendations I think we would make. The first is about investment and community infostructure and I mentioned the point that about 2% of broadband already for all of the investment going into that so channel that into community infostructure that can support digital inclusion everywhere. Polling that we commissioned from Ipsos MORI, last month showed that 75% of people so 3/4 ‘s of people think that should be a place in every village town and city where they can go to get help with digital skills so I mean that is pretty, I just want to say open and shut but there is strong public support for this as there is a very clear social and economic case for it. So investment through community infostructure is the first.
The second is the Government are planning their next digital strategy. This is a revamp a refresh of the last digital strategy mission which I think was last published in 2015/2016 we think that digital inclusion should not be bolted on to that like the thing with imbedding in the way that you deliver teaching it should be through everything it should be a headline that digital inclusion or frankly whatever set of words that you want to use to describe this thing about being part of the digital world and talking about everyone having that digital equality should be built into the DNA of the digital strategy from first page to last and then it should not be an afterthought or a bolt on.
And then the third thing that I mentioned already I think that there is a real opportunity for face based approaches and we were here talking about the North East today and there will be similar conversations happening in other areas of the country but having a personal set of people who have taken ownership of this so we can answer the question who problem is this to fix at a local and a city region level have set themselves an ambitious target and have marshall behind that the brilliant support not only in the community sector, but of corporates like Lloyds and others and can really stitch that together in a way that is going to work for people in that region. It going to feel its in the region, its of the place and really respond to those needs I think that here is a real opportunity to step that agenda forward. Stepping I suppose, building on what the DMS are already doing on those local school partnerships is taking it to the logical next step. So I think that there is an opportunity there too.
(Elyn Corfield)
So, I think it’s really insightful conversation so, the divide is wider than we first anticipated, it think that’s where we first started off you know it is great for a more complex than the issue we thought it was, infrastructure and devise is more of the issue but also skills does play a role as in you know having that confidence and motivation, I think a couple of key points that came across are the urgency, urgency and action needed I think it definitely resonated from the conversations today.
Some really insightful bits from Andrew, on you know engineering, and how that can lead into digital skills through education and that digital necessity or opportunity, you know where does it fall for different people and at the moment a lot of it is necessity because of the current pandemic we are in, and how you, you know I started off by saying, you know how to we live our lives today? And it is a necessity to live your life, so it is definitely something we need and the community, absolutely came through, how can the community be the voice of this and help people because they are the trusted voice and they are trusted and empowered and we can use them in the communities to sort of join things up.
Co-ordination, massive piece that came across and how we get a good momentum but keep co-ordinators across lots of strong parties and partnerships want to get involved but we need to keep it all co-ordinated or it won’t be as strong as it could be and I think that there is no shortage of help, but that centralisation of co-ordination was absolutely fundamental to it all, so I think those are the key points, then we touched on some policy changes at the end there but a fantastic conversation and really good input from everybody so a massive personal thank you from me and I know, I hope you all found it really valuable because yeah, I certainly did, thank you all for participating.
