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British-Irish Council – Annual Report – 2012
Digital Inclusion (Led by 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.
At the twelfth Summit in Cardiff in February 2009, the British-Irish Council agreed that the
Isle of Man Government should take the lead on a Digital Inclusion work sector. The focus of
the Digital Inclusion work sector is on identifying common areas and themes across Member
Administrations through the comparison of statistics, policy and strategy. The work sector has
also shared information on key events and initiatives in order to ensure better co-ordination of
national and local campaigns.
As more Member Administrations look to drive down service delivery costs through the use of
online service delivery, a key focus of the work sector at the moment is co-operation around
the economics (costs and benefit) and removal of barriers to adoption of the ‘digital by default’
agenda. The UK Government’s approach to online Universal Credit is a useful case study for
the Group.
Source: DVLA.