Being digitally included is becoming essential as society becomes increasingly digital and this requires four things to be in place: access to good broadband, affordable data and devices, the skills to use the internet and the will to do so.
Over 180,000 adults in Wales are still not online [1] and some groups are over-represented in exclusion: older people, those with long-term conditions, social housing residents and people whose first language is not English.
In Wales and across the UK, data poverty is increasingly becoming a significant barrier to digital inclusion as financial pressures on households worsen and this has prompted the House of Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee to conduct an inquiry into the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on digital inclusion in the UK.
School of Management academic Professor Hamish Laing was invited to give evidence to the committee on behalf of Wales. He told the committee that in Wales the policy driver for digital inclusion primarily is one of social justice rather than economic development and described the approach taken by Welsh Government as well as the 90+ organisations that comprise the Digital Inclusion Alliance Wales (DIAW) that he chairs.
In the first half of 2022, 19% of people in Wales cut back on the internet or devices to access it due to financial worries [2] and DIAW have made data poverty one of its five priorities for action in a recently published agenda “From Inclusion to Resilience”.
Professor Laing said “ it is encouraging that the Lords are concerned about the real impact of cost of living on digital inclusion and are seeking evidence and good practice to share from the devolved nations to inform their recommendations to UK Government. I was able to tell them that Swansea University is a partner to Digital Communities Wales, Welsh Government’s national Digital Inclusion Programme and also of our work with Liverpool and Loughborough Universities, The Good Things Foundation and Cwmpas to define a Minimal Digital Living Standard (MDLS) for Wales.”
A recording of the House of Lords Select Committee evidence session can be watched here and a Committee report is expected later this year.
[1] National Survey for Wales: April 2021 to March 2022 | GOV.WALES