Digital Inclusion and what we are doing about it
Written by Dave Ferguson and Angeline Saunderson-Hill
We can define it, we can understand why it happens, but it is very difficult to completely address it and do it !
We know that some North East Lincolnshire residents do not have the basic digital skills and we know some of this is generational and the world will look different in 5 to 10 years time, but exclusion is not just about age and perceptions. It’s about:
- Being able to pay for things online
- Having the confidence to do things online
- Levels of education and having digital skills
- Helping people with disabilities
- Creating the conditions for the private sector to invest
- Understanding how we can create inclusivity
What there is, however, is great opportunity in making inclusivity a priority that will help the public sector to be sustainable and better meet the outcomes for our customers. This will support the public sector to future proof for the next generation.
What we know is that people using digital services generally get a better deal, get things done faster and easier. Offers online can often save you money, and everyone loves a bargain!! This opportunity should apply to everybody and, sadly we know that this is not the case.
But things are changing! The new website accessibility regulations are going to make thing easier for everyone to access digital services. This demands that all public sector bodies need to meet the standards by a specified date. And what the main ethos of this new regulation? Simple — making this easier!
Gaining agreement and delivering real change will undoubtedly enable conversations to take place covering various aspects such as financial, vulnerability and education. What we need to take from this is that this is not a job for only one person. This is a team effort! If you want to read more about our take on the new accessibility regulations, click here.
The private sector is responding with greater levels of access to digital at cheaper prices, delivered by cheaper technology and reducing overheads. This is lowering access prices to the consumer and with more flexible contracts available.
We are planning to look at how we deliver and assess our services as a council, looking at what this means in:
- Procurement
- Audit
- Managing projects
- How we approve our key decisions
- How services access support form ICT and discussions that take place early into any service design or requests
Our ‘big takeaways’, having delivered some exemplars and thinking about what we need to do are:
- That designing services accessible to everyone is the right thing to do
- The clever part is making it just how we do business, the norm, a mindset and being passionate about supporting everyone who needs to use our services to meet their goal simply and easily
- To be bold, innovative, creative, thinking differently and maximising our reach across North East Lincolnshire in our partnership working to support residents to access what they need in a digital world
- Creating the conditions for investment and growing our economy in an inclusive way, enabling local people to have modern skills and able to access the new jobs created
Of course even with all this at the heart digital continues to progress at such a pace the big challenge is trying to be one step ahead or at least at the ensuring we are not far behind !
