An update on No One Left Behind
I want to give an update on the NOLB work that is happening in Scotland.
Led by the Scottish Government, the drive to create digital inclusion for those most vulnerable and at risk from COVID19 is making real progress. The amount of work that has been done in a short time, on this scale is phenomenal and a real testament to collaborative working.
There are over 800,000 people in Scotland digitally excluded who have no digital capability to continue to access essential services and connect to friends, family and information during the coronavirus crisis.
This digital exclusion is creating difficulties for public and community services who have had to switch to phone and digital delivery – increasing the challenge (and cost) of responding at pace to the crisis. It is clear that in order to be effective now and resilient in the future in the face of challenges like COVID-19 it is not sustainable to have around 1 in 7 of the population digitally excluded and/or inactive.
Since launching this ‘call for action’ through ScotlandIS and SCVO ten days ago The Scottish Government has assembled a team of nearly 50 people from a range of organisations and departments.
We have been working with partners across Healthcare Improvement Scotland, many other parts of the SG, Local Government Digital Office, COSLA, SCVO, Glasgow Disability Alliance, LGBT Youth Scotland, and Young Scot, with new partners being added almost daily.
Internal Scot Gov teams are working with the NHS, SCVO and The Data Lab to share knowledge, capture complex requirements, plan roll out and design training – all at breakneck pace.
Incredible progress has already been achieved.
As the industry body, we asked for your help and the response has been awe inspiring. Companies have offered significant amounts of work, services, products and solutions for nothing. Leidos, Microsoft, Accenture, AWS, The Data Lab, Gartner and ARM have delivered at rapid pace, while many in our scale up and start up community have offered innovative solutions, services and expertise that we will soon be utilising once we have finalised the immediate need in the Phase 1 response.
However, there is still a huge amount to do, currently we are:
- Establishing the extent of funding and private sector support
- Scoping the devices that will be needed and availability within the supply chain.
- Mapping available connectivity solutions including 4G, 5G and fixed broadband
- Devising distribution channels for devices through SCVO and the third sector.
- Designing the training needed for different segments of the target population which covers everything from switching a device on for the first time, to staying safe online, communicating with friends and family and essential services including internet banking and accessing health services.
No One Left Behind is important.
Digital Inclusion is important.
Getting people online quickly, safely and in a way which will make a real difference to their lives, is important.
I cannot thank our industry enough for their response to this call.
ScotlandIS inclusive
ScotlandIS collaborative
ScotlandIS digital