LOCAL authority areas Dumfries and Galloway and Highland suffer from the highest rate of digital exclusion in Britain, according to a charity aiming to increase digital skills across the UK.
A new “heatmap” published by digital inclusion charity Go ON UK highlights six council areas suffering the highest likelihood of digital exclusion, defined as people being able to carry out five basic skills online.
The rest of the list is made up of four areas in Wales: Conwy, Anglesey, Pembrokeshire and Rhondda Cynon Taf.
The map has been published with support from the Local Government Association and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), with further support from the BBC.
The research found that the highest levels of basic digital skills are found in Greater London (84 per cent), while Scotland and East Anglia both scored 81 per cent.
The lowest are in Wales, where only 62 per cent of adults have the five basic digital skills. Internet access is also the lowest in Wales.
Those taking part were asked about five basic online skills: managing information, communicating, transacting, problem-solving and creating, and while 89 per cent could use a search engine, 27 per cent could not buy or install an app.
Adults in London were the most likely to complete all five sections, with 84 per cent completing each of them, followed by East Anglia and Scotland (81 per cent).
Wales had the lowest completion rate – 61 per cent.
Four digital measurements were taken – infrastructure, access, basic digital skills and basic digital skills used – and four social metrics – age, education, income and health – to calculate the level of inclusion.
Ellen Helsper, associate professor at the LSE, who developed the methodology behind the map, said the results clearly demonstrated that social and digital exclusion were closely related, with the lack of basic digital skills and access in already disadvantaged areas likely to lead to an increase in inequality of opportunity around the UK.
Baroness Martha Lane-Fox, founder of Lastminute.com and chairwoman of Go ON UK, said that the lack of digital literacy was hurting the country.
She said: “We should be striving to be the most digitally forward nation. I think that’s going to be essential – the internet is not going to be less pronounced, it is going to get more.
“The fact that millions of adults cannot do four things online we deem as the lowest level of entry to the internet not only holds them back, but also holds the country back.
"I would argue that’s partly why we have the productivity challenges we do. The people who can benefit most from these things are also the most excluded.”
Go ON UK chief executive Rachel Neaman said: “What our heatmap shows is that there is no single cause of digital exclusion, and therefore no one-size-fits-all solution either.
“Whilst Scotland scores low overall in terms of infrastructure, it has the highest levels of basic digital skills of all the four UK nations.
"In Manchester, nearly 80 per cent of adults have all five basic digital skills, but only one-third have used them in the past three months.”
According to the report, Cardiff has high levels of basic digital skills compared to the areas around it and compared to the UK as a whole, even though Wales has the lowest overall levels of basic digital skills.
The heatmap also shows that social indicators like age and income significantly increase the likelihood of exclusion.
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