Agenda item

To consider the draft strategy, to assess its ambition and how it will drive service improvement.

Glynis Phillips, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services introduced the report. Digital inclusion was defined as ‘ensuring the benefits of the internet and digital technologies are available to everyone’ and covered both access to the internet and the ability of individuals to use it. The pandemic had reinforced how vital digital services were to everybody’s lives, being fundamental to employment, financial management and social interaction, as well as being more and more relied on for health services also. However, not everybody is able or wishes to access or use this technology, meaning an ongoing challenge exists for the Council in how it provides for such people in an increasingly digitally focused environment. Key groups within this category included, amongst others, those living in rural areas, people living in social deprivation, carers and small businesses.  Library and heritage services perform a key function in this regard, providing free access to wifi and computers for users, but also trained staff and volunteers to provide support. Over 8000 applications for services such as blue badges and bus passes had been enabled in this way.

The Strategy covered three key areas: digitally inclusive communities, service delivery, and the workplace. Working alongside partners, a digital inclusion charter had been developed and was being consulted on. When agreed, as many organisations as possible would be encouraged to sign up to the principles as possible. Progress against the strategy, via an action plan to deliver the strategy, would be presented annually.

In response to the presentation the Committee focused its questioning on a number of issues. Good practice from elsewhere in relation to making libraries (and their IT services) accessible for those with children, or those who work was explored. The importance of libraries as the first port of call for many digitally excluded individuals was recognised and it was confirmed that work was already being undertaken by the Council to review the needs of local residents in relation to library access.

The challenge and capacity of the Council to ensure that responsibility for improving digital inclusion was embedded corporately rather than located within a particular team was discussed. In readiness for this, the Council had already moved from a hardware focus to a service focus, with dedicated IT staff for each directorate tasked with understanding the IT requirements to deliver their services as part of the wider corporate offer.  Likewise, non-IT staff were being trained to support individuals with use of IT in the course of their existing roles. The importance of this was noted particularly in ensuring that vulnerable users were not exposed to unacceptable levels of risk when using the internet.

Specific groups who might struggle particularly with digital access were identified and issues discussed. In addition to library provision, central government’s Project Gigabit had been of significant help in increasing broadband access for those who might face cost of living challenges, with over 240 community properties being equipped to provide free wifi. Full fibre broadband was being rolled out across the entire county, meaning rural areas would, as the project continued, have full access to fast internet speeds. It was confirmed that all looked-after children were in receipt of ipads, with support being given to maintain the hardware and train the young people on their usage.

The Committee discussed two issues on which it made recommendations. The first concerned the relative lack of priority within the strategy for supporting small and micro-businesses to realise the benefits of the internet. It was recognised in response to questions on this that the Council had relied on district council partners for information around this, rather than consulting relevant businesses directly.

The second area of recommendation concerned the opportunity to lead on developing shared apps between district, parish and county councils. At present, Council staff were prioritising making the website more user-friendly, but the Committee suggested that with other districts looking into this idea, that there was a possible opportunity for joint working which might be of benefit to residents. Further discussion was held over the potential scope of an app or apps, given the breadth and variety of ways in which residents interact with their local authorities, and the need not to ensure the any app remained intuitive and easy to use.

The following actions were AGREED:

1)    That a progress update report on the Digital Inclusion Action Plan come to the People OSC in 12 months

2)    That the Scrutiny Officer would draft recommendations based on the discussion for sign-off by the Chair and vice-Chair relating to consultation with businesses, and joint-working with other local authorities on an app, and that the Committee would sign off any forthcoming report remotely.

NB The recommendations ultimately agreed were as follows:

Recommendation 1: That the Council approaches Oxfordshire Association for Local Councils to investigate the appetite amongst parish, town, district and city councils on digital inclusion, particularly in relation to access to broadband, online safety and app development. 

Recommendation 2: That the Council consults directly with businesses, particularly smaller ones, on the barriers they face to ensuring the benefits of the internet are available to them and develops actions to support any new issues identified within the Digital Inclusion Action Plan.