I'm here tonight as a "New Boy on the Block", having
become Minister for Industry and the Regions 2 months ago. So this is more
of an introductory speech than my final word and I particularly welcome
the chance today to talk broadly on this issue for the first time and
later to listen and engage with you as I take up my responsibility to
drive the Digital Strategy forward as its Ministerial Champion.
I’d like to thank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) for the
work that has gone into the Digital Manifesto.
It’s an enormously helpful contribution to the whole debate about “digital
society”, and complements the Digital Strategy – a Government commitment
that was highlighted in Labour’s manifesto for the General Election.
Will Davies will be speaking about the IPPR manifesto shortly, but I want
to start this evening by sharing my thinking about “Digital Britain” and
the launch of the Digital Strategy.
For many years people have talked about a vision of a digital Britain.
Frankly, the reality has not lived up to the promise – until now, at
least.
That’s why it is so important to signal and deliver a step change in our
approach as well as recognising the foundations that have been laid to
date.
And I wholeheartedly applaud the words from Marshall Berman in the
introduction to the Digital Manifesto:
"As members of modern society, we are responsible for the direction in
which we develop, for our goals and achievements, for their human costs."
Every now and then, with a heavy heart, I conclude that an issue is so
incomprehensible and so important that I can't leave it to others to
understand it for me. That's what led me into youth work, and to become
Chairman of the Finance Committee of Cardiff City Council.
How we deal with the future of Information and Communication Technology is
a real challenge. Fortunately there are many enthusiasts – an engaged
industry, indeed, an awakening within industry and within Government about
the implications. Yet it remains a challenging, difficult area in which we
are not sure which is bigger – the threat or the opportunity.
In my view we are on the verge of making the vision a reality. Technology
is becoming part and parcel of everyday life, at home, in schools, in the
community, industry and government.
We are making progress because - for the first time - we have an extensive
broadband infrastructure in place. As the man said as he strode towards
the cliff edge, “Now is the time for a great leap forward”. Which is fine
as long as we’re ready to fly.
The growth of broadband is a real success story. In 2001 our prices were
among the highest in the world and broadband was only available to around
60% of the population.
Today, broadband is available to nearly 100% of our population – that’s
the most extensive availability in the G7. We are the third most
competitive market. With over 7 million connections broadband now
represents nearly 50% of total UK connections, up from 28% a year ago.
We also have a world-leading position in digital TV and one of the most
advanced and competitive mobile phone markets in the world, with 3G now
starting to make a real impact.
So far so good. But having the infrastructure is of no benefit if it isn’t
being used effectively and there are growing concerns in that area.
Again, there is progress. Businesses are becoming increasingly
sophisticated in their use of ICT.
According to the most recent International Benchmarking Study, the UK is
ranked 3rd among 11 leading countries. This is significant because a
growing body of evidence shows that effective use of ICT is a major
contributor to productivity growth.
There is also evidence, however, that other countries, particularly Japan
and the US are reaping greater productivity from the use of ICTs in their
businesses, particularly in business processes and the supply chain.
Crucially, then, companies need to undertake organisational change to
achieve that growth - and this may be a greater challenge than the
technology itself. Effective change requires not just technology-user
skills, but leadership and management skills, too.
This emerging evidence provides a challenge to business but also to
government. In this constantly evolving environment we need to reflect on
how best government can support business in achieving more effective use.
At this stage I have to speak frankly and say that the Government faces
the same challenges and that we are a long way short of the tolerable,
never mind the acceptable, in the DTI.
As a nation we need to be comfortable with using the technology. We need
to make sure that people have the opportunity, should they wish, to
develop their skills and confidence. Actually, I’m not sure “should they
wish” is acceptable any more.
We need to be setting norms, firing people with ambition, and impatient
for an environment in which everyone is close to the cutting edge.
And that is not yet the case.
One key area is use of the Internet. Around 30% of the adult population
have not yet used to the Internet. Many people have no desire to do so.
This is common throughout Europe, but that is no consolation.
But I fear that the fact that 70% of the adult population have used the
Internet is not, in itself, reassuring! The use of the Internet by many
people may be very limited and unadventurous.
As ever, I want to balance the good news and the bad news. There are
excellent examples of use.
The Cybermoor Project has developed from getting the community of Alston
Moor online to becoming a social enterprise providing broadband to
residents & businesses, a web portal, IT support and support for local
multimedia development.
Again in Edinburgh, over 60% of social housing is let online.
Easy Connects in South Yorkshire allows you to book or cancel doctor’s
appointments online.
To achieve a digital society, we need to stimulate more examples like
these. We need to promote greater understanding and use of broadband by
the 70% who are using the Internet as well as reducing that figure of 30%.
That is why the Government launched its Digital Strategy just before the
election.
Our Strategy aims to increase the take-up and use of ICT by the individual
in a safe and secure environment by addressing different aspects of the
digital divide.
The Digital Strategy is enormously significant for a number of reasons.
First, it represents a shift in focus away from infrastructure towards
take-up and use. Infrastructure remains important, but the debates about
bandwidth seem sterile when we are not using what we have got now to
anything like its full potential.
Second, the strategy is cross government. That’s because we recognise that
only concerted action across Government as a whole will let us face the
issues of the digital world.
Third, the impetus behind the strategy comes from the Prime Minister. The
continued involvement of the No.10 team and the Treasury and Cabinet
Office will be an important factor in moving this agenda forwards.
Fourth, and finally, the strategy is collaborative. We are working with
and through a wide range of partners to realise the objectives. Those
partners include the ICT industry and industry access sectors; Regional
Development Agencies; social enterprise, voluntary and community
organisations; local government, and public bodies. Every partner’s
contribution is vital. Government can provide leadership and help raise
awareness, but reaching many of those not engaged will require the
participation of a wide range of organisations.
So the key elements within the strategy include:
· The transformation of learning. This includes additional funding of £50
million provided to help schools equip their pupils to make the most of
ICT;
· A £10 million Digital Challenge, jointly funded with industry, aimed at
local authorities and providing a focus for local government to create a
genuine digital vision for their area that engages all citizens;
· Improving accessibility, building on the foundation created by the UK
Online Centres; revising the Home Computer Initiative to ensure that it is
targeted more effectively at those with lowest take-up and addressing the
issue of disabled access to the Internet
Another key area of the strategy is the transformation of government
services.
The public has become more demanding – we are driven on by increasingly
good private sector services, and we cannot allow public services to fall
behind.
Without better use of technology, this will be hard to achieve.
We are committed to public service delivery that is more personal. That
requires a joined-up approach – as articulated in the Labour Manifesto
commitment to a single budget for pensioners cutting a swathe through
separate delivery silos. A personal service should be tailored to an
individual’s needs, which generally reflect a broader set of circumstances
than the single dimension required by one service.
Joining services up to provide this two-dimensional or even
three-dimensional view of the citizen customer can only be done
efficiently with technology. Traditionally that’s a field in which
Government systems and Departments have found it hard to adapt.
There are many areas where face-to-face service delivery is essential –
health, criminal justice, Jobcentres etc. The challenge – (to give
frontline public sector workers the tools that technology can provide to
help them do their job better) - is a considerable challenge.
In particular it is crucial to give front line workers information about a
wider set of related services that the customer might want and which the
customer would otherwise have to make many calls to access. It is our job
to make sense of Government – not to leave it to the citizen.
Incidentally, that was a conclusion in “Working Together for Children and
Their Families” in 1975 as well as in many other attempts to make sense of
Government over the years, and yet it still seems to be regarded as
radical in some quarters.
There are areas of brilliant, disruptive or large-scale public sector
modernisation that use technology to its full.
Money Claims Online (an online civil court) has become Britain’s biggest
civil court by case volume.
Automatic number plate reading is having a real impact on law enforcement
and road pricing.
And you only have to look at the success of the congestion charge, direct
payment of benefits, NHS Direct, and the modernisation of pensions
services to see that the public sector really can get it right.
The challenge is to transfer the learning of these success stories to the
wider public sector, because that success has not been universal in the
public sector. Our aim must be to bring the benefits of ICT to the many
not just the few.
I mentioned earlier that the UK is not alone in facing these issues and
that they are common throughout Europe.
We have an opportunity during our Presidency to demonstrate leadership on
this agenda, specifically around the i2010 strategy, focusing particularly
on the key aspects of accessibility, transparency, productivity and job
creation. Our Digital Strategy is important part of UK work towards those
goals.
We are now working closely with the Commission, other Member States and
our business partners to move forward on the goals of the i2010 strategy
during our Presidency.
We’ve already started this work. Last weekend Commissioner Reding and I
hosted a Summit on the Digital Economy. CEOs of 10 leading ICT companies
across Europe gathered to address a number of issues holding back the
development of new services, content and applications across the EU.
We had an excellent dialogue, the result of which was the Press Release
you have in your packs. In addition to pressing ahead with more market
opening measures and competition in the telecommunications sector, the
business leaders committed themselves, in conjunction with Commissioner
Reding, to draw up a Charter for “On-line content and IPR” for next May -
addressing, among other things, the critical issue of piracy.
Commissioner Reding and I have agreed to meet with business leaders again
in January to review progress on the charter and on the other commitments
made last weekend.
Last point, on Europe - I had the privilege, yesterday, of addressing the
European Parliament's Industry Committee on our Presidency Agenda on
Industrial policy and ICT issues. It was a very positive session with
clear interest from MEPs on telecommunication markets and on more
contentious subjects such as Data Retention. Closer to home there were
also concerns – which I touched on earlier - on how we might encourage
small companies to more rapidly adopt ICT techniques and products.
I have spelt out some of the challenges that we face – the very challenges
the Digital Strategy sets out to address. Much of this seems to be in line
with issues raised in the IPPR’s “Digital Manifesto” to which we will turn
in a moment. It is not a question of what the Government can do, or what
IPPR can do, or what the sector or individuals or business can do. It is
what we can all do together.
The manifesto raises issues such as privacy, safety, democracy and the
wider role of government. We are facing an increasingly complex set of
issues that challenge existing thinking, methods of working and a whole
range of relationships - between government and citizen, business and
consumer, patient and doctor, teacher and pupil - and even extend into how
our society as a whole functions.
We have to grapple with these really practical issues, including data
usage, and some issues that are philosophical ones such as the balance
between individual rights and the need to protect the safety and security
of society. For some of these the interface between some of the
philosophical questions – the matters of principle – and the technical and
practical issues are themselves value-rich and content-heavy! Recent
events have only magnified these sorts of questions. There are no ready
answers for some of these questions, they will require considerable
discussion and debate.
I’m sure the manifesto will help inform those debates and I’d like to
thank the IPPR and all those who contributed to the workshops and
discussions for the creation of this manifesto and the contribution it
makes to the key issues that confront us as we become a digital Britain.
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