This week, the UK Government launched its UK Digital Strategy policy paper which sets out measures to ‘unlock the power of data in the UK economy and improve public confidence in its use’ with the aim to boost innovation and support research.
In the Ministerial foreword, the Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, announces that the Digital Strategy will:
…Boost our world-leading digital sectors and overcome barriers to growth and innovation, creating more of the high-skilled, high-paid jobs of the future. It will deliver the first-class digital infrastructure and advanced skills base that businesses across the country need to be able to take advantage of digital tools. And it will close the digital divide – to ensure that everyone is able to access and use the digital services that could help them manage their lives, progress at work, improve their health and wellbeing, and connect to friends and family.
While the Paper aims to offer digital skills to millions of individuals and businesses by 2020, and to create international tech hubs and partnerships, it falls short of providing details on executing the strategy as well as clear aims to invest long-term in education and digital skills. A report by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee last year revealed in their Digital Skills Crisis that government needs to ‘offer genuine leadership and vision for the future of digital skills and our digital economy’, adding that there is a digital divide where ‘up to 12.6 million of the adult UK population lack basic digital skills’.
While some feel this Strategy is already a delayed response to an urgent concern, the Policy Paper does adds to the series of strategies launched by government in recent months to improve and build on the existing digital economy in the UK.