Event report: Practical Steps to Closing the Data Poverty Gap
On Tuesday 26 April, the APPG on Data Poverty hosted an event on Practical Steps to Closing the Data Poverty Gap. The session constituted the APPG’s first in-person event, looking to build on November’s virtual Digital Inequalities Roundtable by examining local and national case studies from both the private and public sector in tackling data poverty.
The session was chaired by the Data Poverty APPG Chair’s, Darren Jones MP. It was fantastic to hear from a wide range of stakeholders and representatives including Dr Emma Stone, Director of Evidence and Engagement at the Good Things Foundation; Heidi Fraser-Krauss, CEO of Jisc; Helen Burrows, Content and Services Policy Director at BT; and Chris Ashworth, Head of Social Impact at Nominet.
Please see below for minutes of the session:
The session began with an hour of networking and discussion between attendees.
Darren Jones MP began formal proceedings by welcoming everyone to the event and thanking them for attending. He gave a short history of the APPG, from its inception following a ten-minute rule bill on social tariffs and noted the next session would take place on the topic of The Role of Government and Industry in Tackling Data Poverty, with a view to producing an annual ‘State of the Nation’ report. He described how the pandemic threw up many examples where the lack of internet was a problem for people, with schools warning that their students did not have WiFi and many families sharing a device. He said he was delighted to partner with attendees in raising the profile of the issue of data poverty. He then introduced Dr Emma Stone, Director of Evidence and Engagement at the Good Things Foundation.
Dr Emma Stone, Director of Evidence and Engagement at the Good Things Foundation, introduced herself and apologised on behalf of Good Things Foundation’s CEO, Helen Milner, who had been unable to speak due to illness. She said it is unacceptable that data poverty exists on the scale that it does, and expressed concern that awareness was dropping as the world emerges from the pandemic. She said households face steep rises in the cost of living, and will have to make choices over paying for connectivity or other basic needs. The Good Things Foundation works with partners on digital access projects nationwide, with their data and devices banks helping up to 500,000 people. She announced the next phase of the charity’s work – the appointment of Data Poverty Fellows to their Data Poverty Lab and introduced three of the fellows who were in the audience. Emma ended by reaffirming that by working together it is possible to end data poverty for good.
Heidi Fraser-Krauss, CEO of Jisc, described Jisc’s role as a digital partner for higher education and skills services, providing systems such as Eduroam to 4.5 million students. She said Jisc became interested in data poverty during the pandemic, where 1/4 students in higher education and 1/6 in further education struggled to pay data charges. She noted Eduroam as one solution to this, as well as Govroam, where a member of an institution signed up to the services will be able to access their WiFi wherever it’s provided. As well as this, Jisc are developing Edubox, which will allow students to use their institution’s WiFi in their homes.
Helen Burrows, Content and Services Policy Director at BT, set out the breadth of BT’s work throughout the pandemic. She explained that the pandemic had led to a switch in focus from pull initiatives encouraging people to get connected, to initiatives that more actively helped them to do so, as it became clear connectivity is required to access basic needs. BT helped 30,000 families get online during the pandemic and last year re-launched their social tariff. Helen called for government funding to help distribute this, as well as similar initiatives, more widely. She set out, however, that cost is not the main issue in accessing broadband, pointing out that free broadband schemes have had low take-up and that the main barrier to connectivity is a lack of digital skills. At the same time, the cost of living is becoming more of an issue, and she expressed a hope that these issues can be raised with the Treasury.
Chris Ashworth, Head of Social Impact at Nominet, thanked Darren Jones MP and the other Parliamentarians in attendance for their role in raising the profile of the data poverty issue. He set out his desire to see a UK that is connected and inclusive, and that data poverty stands in the way of this aim. He called data poverty unfair, unnecessary, and something that marginalises and excludes people from society. He pointed to Media City, only 10 miles from his hometown, yet whose benefits are on the other side of the digital divide for many who live there. He described how Nominet are working with Good Things Foundation on their Data Poverty Lab, whose fellows will be working on the innovation deficit around the topic – exploring new ideas to challenge the status quo. Alongside this, he called data poverty a rights-based issue and a market challenge too. He ended by posing several questions: Whether internet users should be seen as citizens or consumers? Why in 2022 accessing Universal Credit has more in common with getting a Netflix subscription than going to the Post Office, with data fees meaning the welfare state is no longer free at the point of use? He called for joined up solutions, as data poverty can’t be solved in disparate government departments, nor can it be left to a market solution.
Darren Jones MP then invited members of the audience to contribute to the session.
Dave Donaghy, from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, explained his position looking at data poverty from a mathematic and engineering perspective. He placed tackling data poverty within the wider issue of digital poverty, as even if people are out of data poverty, they often still face the issues of poor access to devices, lack of digital skills, and social isolation.
Charlotte Witso of Citizens Advice set out her organisation’s work looking at how people can afford data. She shared research that showed 3 million people were behind on their mobile bills and 2.7 million behind on their broadband bills in the UK in January 2022. Citizens Advice are also experiencing their highest ever number of hits on their website of people who are struggling to pay for their broadband, up 69% from last year. She raised the issue that people are struggling to access social tariffs, due to poor credit scores or being unable to switch from long fixed-term contracts.
Tom McGrath from Good Things Foundation drew attention to their latest report written in conjunction with the APLE Collective and Friends, Families and Travellers, and invited attendees to take a physical copy.
Dana Jundi, of the APLE Collective, highlighted the funding they have received from the Community Renewal Fund to boost digital inclusion in Stoke-on-Trent. As an example of where funding could be targeted, she set out how they were introducing an accessibility grant, a get connected grant, an innovation grant and a free training programme. For the latter, drop-in sessions have been found to be more useful than more formal training modules.
Darren Jones thanked all the speakers and encouraged further networking.
The session ended with a further hour of networking and discussion between attendees.