Connecting Scotland phase 3 - digital support for employability: evaluation

Background to Connecting Scotland

Connecting Scotland is a Scottish Government programme, delivered in partnership with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO). It provides digital devices, connectivity and digital skills support to people on low incomes who are digitally excluded. Over three distinct phases, Connecting Scotland has, so far, helped more than 60,000 households to increase their digital engagement and harness the advantages of being online.

The first phase of the programme was launched in 2020, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Periods of national lockdown meant that vulnerable people who were digitally excluded were at risk of severe isolation; with access to an internet-connected device, people were able to keep in touch with family, friends and services, and find ways to stay occupied. An Evaluation of phase 1 was published in May 2022.

A second phase was launched in autumn 2020, targeted primarily at low income families with children. People in this phase used devices for a variety of activities, including, prominently, helping children to participate in schoolwork online. An Evaluation of phase 2 was published in November 2022.

Phase 3 of Connecting Scotland was launched in Summer 2021. Over 20,000 devices were distributed in this phase, alongside the offer of digital skills support. The largest single cohort of users was people who were digitally excluded and seeking employment. This group of users is the focus of this report which looks at their experiences of being involved in the programme and the impacts that this has had for them.

Connecting Scotland programme delivery is currently paused as the service undergoes a full redesign. A new Connecting Scotland service will be relaunched this year with a changed delivery model, focused primarily on fostering sustainable, systemic approaches to tackling digital exclusion. Details of the renewed service will be set out in the Business Case (publication forthcoming).

An overview of the first three phases of Connecting Scotland is included at annex A

Delivery of Support

The delivery model for devices and digital skills support remained the same throughout the first 3 phases of Connecting Scotland. A detailed account of support delivery is provided at annex B but will be briefly summarised here.

Applications for equipment were made by support organisations (chiefly 3^rd sector), across Scotland, on behalf of their clients who were digitally excluded. People supported through the programme could receive either an 'Apple iPad', or a 'Google Chromebook' plus a MiFi device (portable personal wireless internet) where needed. SCVO administered the application process and awarded the devices to successful applicant organisations to distribute to their users.

Digital skills support was provided by 'digital champions'; staff members working for organisations who applied to the programme. The role of digital champions is to help users with fundamental and/or essential digital skills so that they can operate their devices and utilise the internet productively. Because they are drawn from organisations that are already working with users, the role of digital champions may include other, non-digital, elements of support provision.

People receiving devices own those devices and can keep and use them for as long as they wish, however, MiFi connections for phase 3 users only remain active for 2 years. Connecting Scotland is currently exploring short-term extensions to connectivity in cases of extreme hardship for people whose MiFi connection is expiring.

What is Digital Exclusion?

In the UK, people's use of the internet and digital technology has rapidly increased in recent years. Lloyds bank's 'Consumer Digital Index' (2022)^[1] shows that 99% of people had used the internet in the previous 3 months; an increase of 10% since 2016. In Scotland, the 2021 Scottish Household Survey (SHS)^[2] estimates that 96% of households had home internet access. In short, having no access to the internet is now rare. This does not, however, indicate that digital exclusion is a marginal issue.

The Lloyds report uses the ONS (Office for National Statistics) definition of being online, which is having engaged with the internet in the last 3 months, but, as the report acknowledges, this is not a suitable proxy for measuring digital exclusion^[1]. Digital exclusion is not simply the inability to get online. It refers to the range of barriers that people face in being able to fully harness the benefits and opportunities afforded by digital access. Being digitally excluded could result from not being able to afford a consistent and reliable means of online access, not having suitable equipment, encountering inaccessible online content, or from a lack of adequate digital skills. Indeed, the Consumer Digital Index estimates that one fifth of UK adults lacks basic digital skills. In addition, perception and understanding of the internet itself can also be a cause of digital exclusion, with people not perceiving the benefits of engagment, though this is a more significant factor in older age groups^[3].

The definition of digital exclusion is evolving from a binary user/non-user understanding to one in which differential levels of access and use are foregrounded. In the research for Connecting Scotland, we have frequently found that people have some experience of going online and using digital devices, but that their full digital inclusion is constrained by, in most cases, not being able to afford adequate equipment or sufficient data. 'Digital inequality' is perhaps a more useful term by which to refer to these experiences.