Can we reduce the digital gap?
As tackling digital exclusion becomes a key objective in the Brown government, UK online centres’ Helen Milner tells Mike Lowe about the Prime Minister’s extra funding for the cause and how, with a little help, departments can make a difference. At the height of the recession, when people and businesses are struggling for work and need all the assistance they can get, services like UK online centres, that can give those unemployed a better chance to enhance their skills, face an uphill struggle too.
Despite job creation being one of the most important goals in those turbulent times, Helen Milner, director of UK online centres, tells me that some local organisations found online centres to be “non-essential”. On some occasions this meant pulled funding or a withdrawal of support due to what appeared to be more important priorities, which of course led to some online centres closing and/or laying off staff.
Yet, as Milner identifies, this is highly ironic as with the increase in unemployment, there is an increased demand from the public to learn new skills at the centres.
So is this the sign of things to come? As we crawl our way out of the recession, are the very services that can potentially improve a nation’s skills base and employability be left to fend for themselves in their busiest time?
Apparently not as Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in his Smarter Government plan – which is looking to create efficiencies to provide better services – allotted an extra £30m in funding towards digital inclusion.
Milner says a part of that plan is a belief that it would be good to get more people to access online public services. But in order to do that more people need to know how to use the internet.
“I think that is the main driver within Smarter Government but having said that in the speech the Prime Minister gave at the launch of Smarter Government he also acknowledged that when someone is online they will have a better quality of life. They will be able to communicate with their family more, they will be able to get a job,” she says.
The £30m funding will be provided over three years, with UK online centres receiving approximately £11m in the first year.
Since Brown’s announcement, Milner has launched a competition for the funding, asking online centres across the country to submit bids. Overall she expects up 2,000 centres to benefit from the £30m grant, whilst a fraction will go into reserve to help the central body of the organisation coordinate events and campaigns.
So with this injection of money, is the government doing enough for digital inclusion? Milner jokes that giving £30m is obviously a pretty good indicator. But two years ago, before this injection of funds, she admits she would have said a “resounding no”.
“A lot has happened since then. In Digital Britain, the government established Martha Lane Fox as the champion for digital inclusion. Also Digital Britain saw the establishment of the National Digital Participation Plan and a consortium led by Ofcom – and they’ve got some money as well. They have got £12m over three years for digital participation, which includes digital inclusion,” she explains.
“There’s a lot going on, but with all this money and all this push we still won’t completely eradicate digital exclusion. If the government wants to get to 100 per cent of people online, they need to do more,” she adds.
But Milner believes that a major change is needed to online public services to facilitate this. Often the processes appear to be “complex and difficult when they don’t need to be”.
She says many departments try to change a process by adding or taking away things. Actual fundamental change appears rare and Milner says organisations should ask those “fundamental questions” about how they present their services and, most importantly, how users are supported through the experience.
At this point Milner offers the hand of friendship to departments, saying they could work with UK online centres from a user-testing point of view.
“So you could see online centres being a trusted intermediary in the community where people can help offline people or those not confident on the internet to use public services. But you could also use it for government departments to test systems to see if they work,” she says.
“It’s not our role to help government departments to streamline their processes, however I think we will be part of plans to get services more online with more people using it. I’m never one for not sticking my nose in if I think there can be an improvement. So if I get the opportunity and I think something can be improved then I’ll definitely offer our services.”
