12 July 2010 | Author: J. Morton News Editor

UK digital champion wants all working age citizens online

While technology surges ever forward - generating new and sophisticated devices such as the iPhone and groundbreaking websites such as Facebook and Twitter - many of the UK's citizens have been left in the dust.

With around 10 million Britons clueless as to how to work the internet to their advantage, UK digital champion Martha Lane Fox has set her sights on connecting all working age citizens to the World Wide Web by 2012.

The Networked Nation Manifesto, an analysis of the current digital environment in Britain, was published today, showing that the elderly and unemployed remain the worst affected by lack of access, which many now consider essential for day-to-day tasks.

Prime Minister David Cameron praised Fox's plans, saying: "In the internet age, we need to ensure that people aren't being left behind as more and more services and business move online.

"Promoting digital inclusion is essential for a dynamic modern economy and can help to make government more efficient and effective," Cameron explained.

The report found that over-65s make up nearly 40 per cent of those who have never used the internet, and over 65 per cent of the 10 million total is unemployed.

However, the Manifesto also showed that seven million jobs were advertised on the internet in the past year alone, and that 90 per cent of these new jobs require computing skills - with internet navigation being key to many roles.

The initiative comes, however, at a time when the ConLib alliance has announced plans to slash the budget in many areas, making some unsure of how they will afford to support this vision.

Rory Cellan-Jones, technology correspondent for the BBC, commented: "With spending on IT in schools already being slashed, and doubts over funding for public internet access schemes, Martha Lane Fox will have to look to the private sector to do much of the work."

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