As an organisation who’ve been supplying donated devices to community groups, charities and NFPs since 2020, we wholeheartedly support today’s publication of the Government’s ‘Digital Inclusion Action Plan: First Steps’ Policy Paper.
Our aim is and always has been to address digital exclusion, whilst also addressing, as importantly, the climate emergency and the environmental impact of discarded surplus tech. The two go hand-in-hand. Digitally including humanity at the expense of our planet (buying new tech, manufacturing more tech, server farm energy consumption, non-repurposing of tech etc.) will not end well!
Government have said “The Digital Inclusion Action Plan aims to close the digital divide in the UK, ensuring that the benefits of technology can be felt by all.”
To tackle digital exclusion, the government will focus on 5 groups of people:
• young people
• older people
• people with disabilities
• people currently out of work
• low-income households
This is great, however, we would really like to see some expansion of this list and focus on those demographics that we routinely donate tech to, who are completely marginalised from society, such as the homeless, refugees, families fleeing domestic abuse and more. There are already large government and grant funded organisations who are advocating and doing great things to include those in the Government’s list above, but what about those that aren’t included?
We’d also like to see more equitable prioritisation of digitally enabled services alongside physical services, whilst barriers to digital inclusion are addressed, such as those highlighted by The Kings Fund’s ‘Moving from exclusion to inclusion in digital health and care’ (8 March 2023)
“If policy and funding prioritise digital-first services without addressing the barriers to digital inclusion, it’s highly likely to result in increasing inequalities by excluding people who are unable to benefit from digital services. This is because they will have reduced access to digital health services, resources and information and there may be no alternative routes. Digitally enabled services and physical services need to be able to work interchangeably to provide the same quality of care, experience and outcomes.”
We must also focus on not ‘excluding’ from society those who choose not to engage with technology for very valid reasons, such as the risks posed by cyber-crime or the assumption that everyone should be banking online for example (banks and building societies having closed 6,266 branches since January 2015, according to Which data). We cannot ‘Exclude’ those who do not wish to be ‘Digitally Included’.
You can comment on the Digital Inclusion Action Plan: First Steps’ Policy Paper either as an individual or organisation here
In the meantime, we will keep on partnering with organisations who want to repurpose their devices for social and environmental good. Could you be one of them?
Call our team on 01438 741718 or email hello@sustainabletech4good.co.uk