UK’s tech superpower ambitions undermined by digital exclusion: Report

A new report from the Communications and Digital Committee has concluded that the government’s ambition to make the UK a technology superpower is being undermined by high levels of digital exclusion and the lack of a credible plan to address the issue.

Over five million employed adults cannot complete essential digital work tasks, the report noted in its opening summary, adding that basic digital skills are set to become the country’s largest skills gap by 2030. The committee also highlighted the fact that $80 billion (£63 billion) is lost to the UK economy each year due to overall digital skills shortages.

Since coming to power 13 years ago, successive Conservative governments and prime ministers have spoken about their ambition to make the UK a technology hub and make the country a world leader in a number of digital industries.

Throughout his political career, current Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has continuously reiterated his vision of making the UK the “next Silicon Valley”, a sentiment that was echoed by now Prime Minster Rishi Sunak during a leadership debate in 2022.

More recently, Sunak argued the UK was a “natural” choice to pave the way for AI regulation and governance, announcing that the country would play host to the world’s first global AI summit and his hope that London would become the home of an international regulatory body for the technology.

“[The UK] happens to be a global leader in AI. You would be hard-pressed to find many other countries, other than the US, in the Western world with more expertise and talent in AI. We are the natural place to lead the conversation and that’s what I heard from the CEOs,” he said during a trip to the US in June 2023.

However, despite the ambition, the committee chastised the government for its failure to focus on what it described as the basics which underpin the long-term viability of such aims and argued that there is a distinct lack of leadership in government to deal with this issue.

Furthermore, the report said the fact that a digital inclusion strategy has not been produced since 2014 and the government sees no need for a new one undermines the government’s contention that tackling digital exclusion is a priority.

“The Government has bold ambitions to make the UK a technology superpower and center of AI development, but we can’t deliver an exciting digital future when five million workers are under-skilled in digital and nearly two-and-a-half million people still can’t complete a single basic digital task,” said Baroness Stowell of Beeston, chair of the committee, in comments published alongside the report.

“Tackling digital exclusion isn’t as sexy as searching for the next tech unicorn, but we can’t compete as a global player without getting the basics right,” she said.

UK digital skills gap is already acute

Even before the issue of generative AI is thrown into the mix, the situation in the UK regarding the digital skills gap is already acute, said Zahra Bahrololoumi, CEO of Salesforce UK&I, at the company’s World Tour event in London this week.

“The fact that one-in-six people don't even have basic digital skills, defined by 20 simple items, ranging from things like securing your home and being able to find and seek jobs online…it doesn’t paint a pretty picture in terms of what our society can do in terms of sustaining themselves,” she said.

While Bahrololoumi pointed out that there were lots of training schemes being offered by private companies including Salesforce, Google, AWS, Microsoft, and Barclays Bank, her frustration lies in the inability of people to access training that covers all 20 of those essential digital skills in one single place.

Consequently, there is so much more the government could be doing, such as folding these skills into initiatives such as the Apprenticeship Levy or offering them as part of return-to-work schemes, Bahrololoumi argued, echoing one of the priorities outlined by the committee in its report — to make basic digital skills feature more prominently in schools, apprenticeships, and adult learning courses.

“Digital exclusion is a moving target. As technology develops, people currently confident using IT at work and home will need to keep refreshing their skills to avoid being left behind,” Baroness Stowell said. “We need to ensure everyone and all age groups have the digital skills they need to operate and the opportunities to keep developing those skills as technologies change.”