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Socitm, the association of ICT and related professionals in the public sector, has welcomed the Government’s proposal, set out in the Digital Britain Final Report, to deliver universal broadband access in the within 30 months.

This achievement, says Socitm, that would be unique to the , is essential to ensure the accessibility, sustainability, efficiency and quality of service delivery through the proposed ‘digital switchover’ to public services available exclusively online. It will contribute a vital part of the infrastructure for a more sustainable public sector that is able to reduce its carbon footprint through citizen self-service and the adoption of flexible, mobile, and home-based working.


These and other views from Socitm on the Digital Britain Final Report are set out in a new Policy Briefing written by Socitm Futures for members, published on 1 July on the Socitm website.

Socitm supports the Government’s approach, set out in the report, in which a set of criteria will be used for selecting those services that lend themselves best to digital switchover, including transaction volumes; complexity, customers; legislative impacts; physical verification and efficiency.

Socitm has been advocating the potential gains from such an approach to service delivery for some time. Evidence from Socitm’s Website Takeup and Channel Value Benchmarking services illustrate the efficiency benefits from shifting services online. Through other research, Socitm has demonstrated the potential for councils to achieve very high online takeup of services in areas as diverse as job applications, waste and recycling, parking, social housing, planning and schools admissions. Socitm will be at the forefront of supporting its members in identifying locally delivered public services that are suitable candidates for digital switchover.

Despite its support for the Universal Service Commitment, Socitm is critical of other proposals set out in the report. It is concerned, for example, at the lukewarm approach to the development of fibre-based, future-proofed, next generation broadband networks. This will leave Britain in a poor position relative to its competitors, many of which are investing in national stimulus programmes and strategies for broadband access, including fibre to the home that can provide speeds of 100Mbps plus. This compares with the 2Mbps internet connection proposed under the Universal Service Commitment.

Socitm also challenges the report’s suggestion that telecommunication costs, especially in the , have fallen dramatically. Unit costs may have fallen, but that is not the same as the total cost of telecommunications faced by households and businesses. Socitm members’ experience suggests that the cost of participating effectively in a ‘connected world’, has risen considerably.

A further important issue not covered adequately is accessibility to services, essential if the ‘digital switchover’ is to be achieved. Accessibility for people with disabilities for example, is not addressed in the report, while the measures to ensure ‘digital life skills’ among the most disadvantaged, could go much further.

‘We welcome the overall focus of the report and its recognition of the strategic role played by the Government in stimulating and developing the infrastructure for a ‘Digital Britain’’ says Martin Ferguson, Head of Policy at Socitm and author of the Socitm response to the Digital Britain report. ‘And its timing, given the need to meet ever increasing demands on public services at a time of huge budgetary pressure, is absolutely right. We look forward to working with Government on practical implementation of the report’s proposals, especially in ways that will benefit people in our local communities’.

A copy of the Policy Briefing can be downloaded at https://www.socitm.gov.uk/socitm/Library/Socitm+briefing+on+Digital+Britain+Final+Report.htm

 

Further information:

Vicky Sargent Tel: 07726 601 139

Socitm Press Office vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk 

Martin Ferguson Tel: 07931 456 238

Head of Policy, Socitm martin.ferguson@socitm.gov.uk