UK National Delivery Plan 2023
Conclusion: Summary & Risks
Summary and next steps
Digital poverty is a complex, pernicious, and pervasive issue that cannot be solved by any one sector alone. To tackle this urgent problem, cross-sector collaboration must take place. This means that all stakeholders, including government, industry, and civil society, must unite to end digital poverty.
To this end, the DPA has developed a plan that outlines a vision for action across all sectors. It marks an important initial step towards achieving the goal of ending digital poverty by 2030. By identifying areas that require attention and mobilising stakeholders around a shared vision, the plan will help to focus efforts and drive progress towards this important goal.
As an individual, you can support this plan and its implementation by visiting the DPA website and pledging your support for one, or more, of the six missions outlined in the plan. You can indicate your commitment to the cause and help to build momentum for change.
To further spread awareness, you can also share the plan on social media using the communication toolkit available on the website. By amplifying the message and encouraging others to get involved, you can help to build a movement around ending digital poverty.
If you are interested in taking forward any of the actions that appear in this plan do let the DPA team know by making a pledge or emailing us at hello@digitalpovertyalliance.org
To ensure that progress is made towards this goal, the DPA will establish a National Delivery Committee that will oversee the missions and actions proposed in the plan. This committee will serve as a means of ensuring that the plan’s actions are carried out and that progress is tracked over time.
Moreover, the plan will be reviewed annually to ensure that it remains relevant and up to date. The DPA recognises that this is a dynamic issue and that feedback from partners and stakeholders is essential to ensuring its continuous improvement.
Ending digital poverty requires a collective effort from all sectors. By supporting this plan and taking action to address this issue, we can work towards a more equitable and connected future for all.
What are the risks to the plan?
The sections below outline some of the risk factors associated with tackling digital poverty and potential mitigations. These include engaging political stakeholders, tailoring messaging to key stakeholders, encouraging sustainable practices, keeping up with technological changes, and prioritizing actions through a phased approach with organizational support. By addressing these risk factors and implementing these mitigations, we can work towards a more equitable and connected future for all.
Political and Economic Uncertainty Across All Sectors
Due to political uncertainty, there is a risk that the digital poverty agenda may not be prioritised by political stakeholders. Additionally, across the private sector, the cost-of-living crisis and profit margins may result in reluctance or insufficient capacity to prioritise this agenda.
Mitigation: Engage across all political parties to build support for the plan. Develop quantitative and qualitative evidence to demonstrate the value of digital inclusion.
Environmental Impacts
The move towards digital inclusion could have unintended environmental impacts, from increased device disposal to increased energy consumption.
Mitigation: Encourage recycling and reuse of devices. Optimise energy efficiency of devices for manufacturers and users. Design apps and systems for energy efficiency. Host sustainably: digital systems providers should be aware of and manage the carbon footprint of all hardware and software in use.
Speed of Technological Change
Digital poverty is a complex and evolving landscape. Being ahead of the changing dynamics of the issue will be complicated. This has a specific risk to the skills mission and could reference the actions there on the sustainability and enhancement of skills courses in line with the latest technology trends.
Mitigation: Refresh and update the report annually to reflect changing circumstances.
Lack of Cooperation or Interest
Industry or other key stakeholders may have limited interest in the digital poverty agenda.
Mitigation: Tailor the relevance of digital poverty to their contexts. Engage in campaigns or awareness-raising activities with key stakeholders.
Trying to Do Too Much
The nature of the agenda is so considerable that the DPA cannot drive this agenda forward alone.
Mitigation: Ensure organisations sign up to help take actions forward. Use a phased approach and prioritise actions.
Pledge Action Today
Take the next step – find out how you and your organisation can use the National Delivery Plan’s six missions to address digital poverty in the UK.
Read the overview
We have condensed the National Delivery Plan 2023 into a 10 page PDF. This provides an overview of our approach, the six missions and their suggested actions.