WIREDGOV

Yesterday, the UK Government published a summary of responses to its Call for Evidence on the Digital Inclusion Action Plan: First Steps, highlighting strong public support for the Plan’s direction and confirming the urgency of addressing digital exclusion across the country.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) received 800 responses from individuals, organisations, charities, local authorities, and businesses. The analysis shows widespread agreement with the Government’s focus on five key demographic groups: low-income households, older people, disabled people, those seeking work, and young people, including those not in education, employment or training.

Respondents also called for greater recognition of additional population groups who face significant and intersecting barriers to digital access, including people with low levels of English literacy, refugees and asylum seekers, people experiencing homelessness, survivors of domestic violence or trafficking, and residents in rural areas. The report underscores the importance of intersectionality, and the need for flexible, locally driven responses to complex and overlapping challenges.

There was strong support for the four focus areas set out in the Digital Inclusion Action Plan: opening up opportunities through skills; tackling data and device poverty; breaking down barriers to digital services; and building confidence. Respondents welcomed the Government’s proposed Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund and called for it to be community-led, accessible to smaller organisations, and focused on sustainable, long-term impact. The importance of collaboration across sectors – combined with clearer strategies to support non-digital users – was also emphasised throughout.

A national plan, delivered through local action

The Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA) is a key partner in delivering the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, working alongside DSIT to ensure surplus government laptops are professionally and securely refurbished and placed in the hands of those who need them most.

Drawing on its experience delivering large-scale device donation programmes, the DPA is supporting the development of a more coordinated, efficient, and community-led approach to device access – helping ensure that connectivity is not a privilege, but a right.

The DPA also submitted a formal response to the Call for Evidence, welcoming the Plan’s direction while calling for deeper systemic change and a more joined-up approach across sectors. In its response, the DPA emphasised that digital inclusion must be recognised as a fundamental right – one that demands structural, long-term solutions rather than fragmented or short-term interventions.

The submission also highlighted several of the DPA’s delivery programmes – Tech4Families, Tech4Youth, and Tech4YoungCarers – as scalable models for locally tailored, high-impact digital inclusion. These initiatives combine device provision, connectivity, and digital skills support, and are designed in collaboration with trusted community partners to ensure accessibility and relevance to those most at risk of digital exclusion.

“This report reinforces what we hear every day from communities across the country: digital exclusion remains one of the defining challenges of our time,” said Elizabeth Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Digital Poverty Alliance. “Our work with DSIT is ensuring surplus government laptops are placed directly in the hands of those who would otherwise be left behind – helping build the foundations for a digitally inclusive UK.”

As Government prepares to operationalise the next phase of the Action Plan – including the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund – the DPA will continue to collaborate with national and local partners to translate strategy into delivery. By focusing on practical, community-informed interventions, we aim to ensure that policy is matched by action, and that no one is left without the tools required to participate fully in modern life.