The British Academy welcomes House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee report on Digital Exclusion

The British Academy welcomes a new report by the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee which draws on evidence submitted by the Academy. The Committee’s report follows its inquiry into digital exclusion and finds millions across all age groups lack basic digital skills or adequate internet access.

The report’s recommendations to government on how to tackle digital exclusion include a proposal suggested by the British Academy’s Digital Technology and Inequality briefing: to establish a cross-government digital exclusion unit with a “mandate for co-ordinating external stakeholders and working across departments to embed digital exclusion in priority policy areas.”

Welcoming the report, Dr Molly Morgan Jones, Director of Policy at the British Academy, said:

“It is great to see the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee examining this vital issue and drawing on the Academy’s evidence and ideas. A key finding stemming from our COVID and Society work, which analysed the societal impacts of the pandemic, was how digital inequality and social inequalities are closely related and tackling one can help solve the other.

“We hope policymakers will consider the recommendations outlined in the House of Lords report as well as those in our 2022 report Understanding Digital Poverty and Inequality and our Digital Technology and Inequality policy briefing. The skills, insights and expertise from the SHAPE subjects (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy) are essential to developing effective solutions to this challenge.”