Digital inclusion

The lead administration for digital inclusion is the Isle of Man Government

Developments in digital technology have generated a period of massive social and cultural change affecting all aspects of society.  However, there is an overwhelming correlation between digital and social exclusion – three quarters of socially excluded people are also digitally excluded.  Those who are or become digitally excluded are not only denied easy access to information and services, but also find they are penalised financially by not being able to use the internet.

The focus of the Digital Inclusion work sector is on identifying common areas and themes across British – Irish Council Member Administrations through the comparison of statistics, policy and strategy.  The work sector has also worked on sharing information on key events and initiatives in order to ensure better co-ordination of national and local campaigns.

As more Administrations look to drive down service delivery costs through the use of online service delivery, a key focus at the moment is cooperation around the economics (costs and benefit) and removal of barriers to adoption of the ‘digital by default’ agenda. The UK’s approach to ‘Universal Credit’ where online is the default channel, is being closely monitored by the Group.