AQW 9062/17-22

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 20/10/2020
Answered On Date: 04/11/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance whether she will consider producing a digital inclusion strategy for Northern Ireland.

Answer:

My Department’s Digital Transformation Service (DTS) set out an ambitious Strategy for Digital Transformation of Public Services in 2017 to continue its digital transformation journey and the delivery of a range of new and improved digital services. Digital Inclusion forms an important part of that Strategy.

The “Making Lives Better” document (https://www.finance-ni.gov.uk/publications/digital-transformation-strategy-2017-2021) describes how the Digital Transformation Programme is providing better public services and enabling collaborative design of public sector digital services.

The Strategy supports the delivery of Programme for Government (PfG) outcomes through the increased use of online channels to access public services and bringing with it new opportunities to improve how we engage with citizens and stakeholders to develop better policies, deliver better services and to overhaul business processes.

Progress on the delivery of the Strategy has been significant - ensuring a “digital first” approach. A mid-term review of the Strategy is currently underway which will provide an opportunity to take stock of progress in the support of PfG outcomes.

My Department’s overarching aim for Digital Inclusion is to give citizens access, skills, motivation and trust to use digital services.

A Digital Resilience Foundation Report was initially undertaken to:

• Develop indicators to measure success;

• Formalise strategic partnerships to enable the delivery of priority targeted interventions to support specific difficult to reach groups such as rural communities and the economically disadvantaged;

• Encourage Departments to embed digital inclusion in the policies and work programmes of all transformation programmes across Government;

• Provide support and assistance to innovative projects which have the potential to make a positive difference to priority groups by addressing issues in respect of access, skills, motivation and trust; and

• Increase the number of publicly available and free internet access points through access ‘hotspots’ at facilities such as local libraries and public sector offices.

It is widely recognised that Digital technologies impact on almost every aspect of modern society, creating huge social benefits. They can improve how we work and communicate with each other, the healthcare available to us, and how information and knowledge can be shared for our benefit.

The downside of our increasing reliance on ICT in public, economic and social life is that the digitally excluded can also become excluded from engaging with public services, modern working life and society itself.

Unfortunately, a number of individuals still don’t have the necessary digital skills required to take advantage of the benefits the internet offers. Statistics indicate that locally 1 in 7 adults do not use the Internet (rising to 1 in 3 of those with a disability and half of those aged 65+); 1 in 4 do not have access to a computer with Internet access.

The Department’s Digital Inclusion Team has been addressing this issue with the introduction of the Go ON NI programme which identifies user needs and ensures those individual needs come first.

I am pleased to note that recent pointers suggest that overall 86% of all adults now use the web compared to 67% when the Go ON NI programme commenced.

As a result of the current COVID-19 situation the GO ON NI programme is providing training sessions remotely whereby anyone can join in. A new Digital Help text and phone service has just been launched to provide one-to-one free digital assistance to the public and this is being supported by BITC volunteers.

A soon to be announced “Connected” pilot project will provide free training as well as a loan of an internet enabled device for a minimum of 6 months to a limited number of elderly or vulnerable citizens. This project will be looking to specifically target the digitally excluded with a specific focus on rural areas through liaison with DAERA and the Rural Community Network.

The Digital Inclusion Team are also pro-active members of the Digital Assist Steering Group, a cross-sectoral body chaired by Business In The Community which helps ensure that government services are not delivered in isolation through appropriate interaction with organisations from across the private, voluntary and community sectors.

For more information on all current and future Go ON NI activities, please visit www.nidirect.gov.uk/go-on-ni or contact the Digital Inclusion team directly at future@finance-ni.gov.uk