Scotland's People Annual Report: Results from 2011 Scottish Household Survey

9 Internet

Introduction and Context

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all of Scotland is well positioned to take full advantage of all of the opportunities offered by the digital age.^[66] World-class digital infrastructure that is used effectively by businesses and individuals is part of this and will support economic growth, social cohesion and future innovation.

Action as part of the strategy will allow Scotland's businesses, whether in rural or urban areas, to remain competitive in global marketplaces, support the development of innovative digital businesses and enable new ways of doing business that can cut costs, improve customer service and reduce our country's carbon footprint. It will allow public services, including health and social care, to be delivered in new, convenient and cost effective ways that provide everybody with access to sources of knowledge, education and entertainment that were not even imagined a generation ago.

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) provides statistics on a number of relevant areas that can be used to measure progress. This chapter begins by looking at take-up of Internet and broadband by households in Scotland, with a focus on how this varies by income and area. It then looks at personal use of the Internet - including where and how the Internet is accessed - by key demographic factors, such as age and gender, health status, income and deprivation. The following section looks at reasons why adults do not use the Internet. The final part looks at use of Government and local authority websites to access information and services.

Main Findings

• Almost three-quarters of Scottish households report having home Internet access in 2011 (73%) which continues a long established year-on-year increase. Home Internet access increases with net annual household income, from around half of households for those with income less than £15,000 up to 98% of those with an income greater than £40,000.
• Nearly all of the households in Scotland who access the Internet at home have a broadband connection (97%). Broadband uptake rates, where households have an internet connection, show very little difference by deprivation and by rurality.
• Just under a quarter of adults (24%) do not use the Internet at all, an improvement on the 27% reported in 2009/2010. There is a clear relationship between age and use of the Internet, with use declining as respondents get older. Similarly, women are more likely than men to be non-users (26% and 21% respectively) though the main gender difference is among those aged 60 or older, with very little difference in the proportion of younger males and females who do not use the Internet.
• The ways in which people access the internet are becoming increasingly diverse and complex, in particular the proportion of those accessing the internet on the move, for example on a mobile phone, increasing 7% in 2009/2010 to 14% in 2011.
• The SHS asked adults who make no personal use of the Internet the reasons why they did not. Among the most common responses related to people's preferences or requirements were, 30% saying they did not like using the Internet/computers, 26% saying they did not need to use the Internet/computers and 23% saying they did not how to use a computer.

Household Internet and Broadband take up

The SHS has asked whether households currently have access to the Internet from their home every year since 2003. Figure 9.1 displays the figures for households with Internet access by quarter from 2003 to 2011. The proportion of households with home Internet access has seen a gradual increase year on year. In the first quarter of 2003, 40% of households surveyed had Internet access, which increased to 74% by the end of 2011.

Figure 9.1: Households with home Internet access by quarter

2003-2011 data, Households (base 2011: 10,777)

Home Internet access increases with net annual household income (Table 9.1) - although there is a break in the pattern for income bracket £6,001-£10,000 which appears to repeat annually. According to 2011 data, around a half of households with incomes of less than £15,000 had home Internet access, increasing to 99% of households with incomes over £40,000.

Table 9.1: Households with home Internet access by net annual household income

Column percentages, 2011 data

Households	£0 - £6,000	£6,001 - £10,000	£10,001 - £15,000	£15,001 - £20,000	£20,001 - £25,000	£25,001 - £30,000	£30,001 - £40,000	£40,001+	All
Yes	54	43	54	69	85	90	96	98	73
No	45	57	45	31	15	9	4	2	27
Don't know	0	-	0	-	-	0	-	-	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	560	1,303	2,033	1,598	1,307	929	1,341	1,317	10,388

This question is only asked of half of the sample.

Household income in the SHS is that of the highest income householder and their partner only. Includes all adults for whom household income is known or has been imputed. Excludes refusals/don't know responses. The figures here differ from other tables due to the smaller base total.

Table 9.2 shows that households in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland^[67] are much less likely than those in the rest of Scotland to have access to the Internet at home, at 59% and 75% respectively.

Table 9.2: Households with home Internet access by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Column percentages, 2011 data

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Yes	59	75	73
No	41	25	27
Don't know	0	0	0
Total	100	100	100
Base	1,564	9,203	10,767

This question is only asked of half of the sample.

Table 9.3 reports the prevalence of home Internet access by type of area, based on the Urban Rural Classification^[68]. The proportion of households with home Internet access is slightly higher in rural areas than in small towns and urban areas, though the difference has narrowed since 2008. Households in accessible rural areas have the highest proportion of home Internet access at 78%.

Table 9.3: Households with home Internet access by Urban Rural Classification

Column percentages, 2011 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Yes	72	73	71	63	78	75	73
No	28	27	28	37	22	25	27
Don't know	-	0	0	-	0	-	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	3,887	3,288	919	563	1,140	979	10,776

This question is only asked of half of the sample.

Since 2007 the SHS has asked households who currently have access to the Internet from home if they have a broadband connection. The vast majority (97%) of households that have access to the Internet from home have a broadband connection^[69]. The proportion of households with access to the Internet with a broadband connection has risen year on year since 2007 (from 87%).

Although broadband is now the predominant method for accessing the Internet, take up of broadband varies slightly with household income (Table 9.4). Among households who access the Internet and have a net annual income of more than £40,000, there is almost complete uptake of broadband (99%). This compares to 94% of households who access the Internet and have a net annual household income of between £10,001-£15,000.

Table 9.4: Households with an Internet connection who have broadband by net annual household income

Column percentages, 2011 data

Households with Internet connection	£0 - £6,000	£6,001 - £10,000	£10,001 - £15,000	£15,001 - £20,000	£20,001 - £25,000	£25,001 - £30,000	£30,001 - £40,000	£40,001+	All
Yes	97	96	94	96	96	97	99	99	97
No	2	3	6	3	3	2	1	1	3
Don't know	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	-	0
Total	100	99	99	99	99	99	100	100	100
Base	299	551	1,079	1,094	1,108	837	1,277	1,290	7,535

Totals do not sum to 100 as the "don't knows" have not been included.

This question is only asked of half of the sample.

Household income in the SHS is that of the highest income householder and their partner only. Includes all adults for whom household income is known or has been imputed. Excludes refusals/don't know responses.

More than nine out of ten households in Scotland who access the Internet at home have a broadband connection, regardless of the level of deprivation or rurality of the area. Broadband uptake rates are very similar among Internet using households in the 15% most deprived of areas of Scotland (at 95%) compared to the rest of Scotland (at 97%) (Table 9.5). For the first time there appears to be little evidence of differences in broadband uptake dependent on the level of rurality (Table 9.6).

Table 9.5: Households with an Internet connection who have broadband by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Column percentages, 2011 data

Households with Internet connection	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Yes	95	97	97
No	5	2	3
Don't know	1	0	0
Total	99	100	100
Base	912	6,826	7,738

Totals do not sum to 100 as the "don't knows" have not been included.

This question is only asked of half of the sample.

Table 9.6: Households with an Internet connection who have broadband by Urban Rural Classification

Column percentages, 2011 data

Households with Internet connection	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Yes	97	97	96	96	97	97	97
No	2	3	4	4	3	3	3
Don't know	0	0	0	-	0	1	0
Total	99	99	100	98	100	99	100
Base	2,748	2,366	659	354	887	733	7,747

Totals do not sum to 100 as the "don't knows" have not been included.

This question is only asked of half of the sample.

Personal Internet Use

In addition to the questions on household take up of Internet and broadband, the SHS asks a randomly selected adult in the household whether they personally use the Internet these days, either for work or personal use. Overall, 76% of adults surveyed said that they used the Internet. Just 1% of those said that they only used it for work purposes, suggesting that the majority of users make use of the Internet, at least sometimes, for personal purposes.

The following section focuses on those who do not use the Internet at all, as the barriers to future use are arguably greatest amongst these groups. Overall, 24% of adults surveyed in 2011 did not use the Internet at all, which is a increase from the figure of 27% reported in 2009/2010.

Table 9.7: Use of Internet by age within gender

Column percentages, 2011 data

Adults	16 to 24	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 59	60 to 74	75 plus	All
All adults
Internet user	96	95	91	80	55	19	76
Does not use the Internet	4	5	9	20	45	81	24
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	1,022	1,741	2,055	3,217	3,127	1,731	12,893
Men
Internet user	96	95	90	79	60	27	79
Does not use the Internet	4	5	10	21	40	73	21
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	450	725	881	1,472	1,389	642	5,559
Women
Internet user	96	95	92	81	52	14	74
Does not use the Internet	4	5	8	19	48	86	26
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	572	1,016	1,174	1,745	1,738	1,089	7,334

Table 9.7 shows differences in use of the Internet by gender and age. Overall, a higher proportion of women (26%) do not use the Internet compared to men (21%). The main differences between genders are among those aged 60 or older, with very little difference in the proportion of male and female non-users of the Internet in the younger age groups. Indeed, there is a clear linear relationship between age and use of the Internet, with use declining as respondents get older. Just 4% of men and women aged 16 to 24 do not use the Internet, whereas the corresponding figures for those aged 75 and over are 73% and 86% respectively.

Around half of those who have some form of a long-term illness, health problem or disability do not use the Internet, compared with 19% of those who do not have any of these conditions (Table 9.8). There is a very strong correlation between health status and age, so this could be, at least in part, a reflection of the relatively low levels of Internet use among older people, who are also more likely to have a long-term illness, health problem and/or disability. Overall, prevalence of not using the Internet is generally highest where adults have both a disability and a long-term illness.

Table 9.8: Use of Internet by whether has a long-standing limiting, illness, health problem or disability by age group

Column percentages, 2011 data

Adults	Has a  disability (only)	Has a long-term illness (only)	Has both disability and a long-term illness	Has neither disability or long term illness	All	Base (min)
16 to 24
Internet user	*	*	*	96	96	21
Does not use the Internet at all	*	*	*	4	4
25 to 34
Internet user	*	87	*	96	95	43
Does not use the Internet at all	*	13	*	4	5
35 to 44
Internet user	*	78	*	94	91	72
Does not use the Internet at all	*	22	*	6	9
45 to 59
Internet user	57	72	57	86	80	185
Does not use the Internet at all	43	28	43	14	20
60 to 74
Internet user	45	43	41	64	55	292
Does not use the Internet at all	55	57	59	36	45
75 plus
Internet user	13	17	16	24	19	265
Does not use the Internet at all	87	83	84	76	81
All
Internet user	43	50	42	81	73	3,764
Does not use the Internet at all	57	50	58	19	27

As with the previous data presented on household Internet use, there are also differences in the use of the Internet by net annual household income (Table 9.9). In general, the proportion of adults who use the Internet increases as net annual income increases - with the exception of those living in households with a net annual income of under £6,000 where there appears to be a relatively higher proportion of adults using the internet compared to other income groups (e.g. 64% for less than £6,000 dropping to 52% where income is between £6,001 and £10,000). Only 3% of adults surveyed who lived in a household with a net annual income in excess of £40,000 did not use the Internet.

Table 9.9: Use of the Internet by net annual household income

Column percentages, 2011 data

Adults	£0 - £6,000	£6,001 - £10,000	£10,001 - £15,000	£15,001 - £20,000	£20,001 - £25,000	£25,001 - £30,000	£30,001 - £40,000	£40,001+	All
Internet user	64	52	57	71	82	86	93	97	77
Does not use the Internet	36	48	43	29	18	14	7	3	23
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	643	1,606	2,580	2,003	1,537	1,077	1,509	1,518	12,473

Household income in the SHS is that of the highest income householder and their partner only. Includes all adults for whom household income is known or has been imputed. Excludes refusals/don't know responses.

A higher proportion of adults living in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland do not use the Internet (34%) compared to those living in the rest of the country (22%) though this difference appears to be reducing year on year (Table 9.10).

Table 9.10: Use of the Internet by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Column percentages, 2011 data

Adults	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Personal / work	66	77	75
Work only	0	1	1
Does not use	34	22	24
Total	100	100	100
Base	1,844	11,037	12,881

Where and how users access the Internet

The ways in which people access the Internet are becoming increasingly diverse and complex. Since 2007 the SHS has asked adults who personally use the Internet about the location where they access it and which methods they used. Table 9.11 shows that the majority (95%) of adults who use the Internet access it at home, followed by at work (21%). Fourteen per cent said that they accessed the Internet whilst on the move, for example using a mobile phone, which is a big change compared to results from 2009/2010 (7%). There appears to be a relationship between age and accessing the Internet on the move, with 24% of users aged 16-24 accessing the Internet on the move, compared to 3% of users aged 60-74.^[70]

Table 9.11: Where adults who use the Internet access it for personal use

Column percentages, 2011 data

Adults who make personal use of the internet
At home	95
At work	21
Mobile phone/WAP/on the move	14
School, college, university, other educational institution	8
At another persons home	7
Public library	4
Internet café or shop	2
A government/council office	0
Community or voluntary centre/organisation	0
Somewhere else	1
Don't know	0
Base	4,400

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed

There appears to be a relationship between household annual net income and where users access the Internet for personal use. Adult Internet users in lower income households are less likely to access the Internet from home or work, but more likely to access it from a public library and at some kind of educational institution than those in higher income households (Table 9.12). Of those adults from low income households (less than £6,000) and high income households (over £40,000) are more likely to access the internet on the move than others.

Table 9.12: Where adults who use the Internet access it for personal use by annual net income

Column percentages, 2011 data

Adults who make personal use of the internet	£0 - £6,000	£6,001 - £10,000	£10,001 -£15,000	£15,001 - £20,000	£20,001 - £25,000	£25,001 - £30,000	£30,001 - £40,000	£40,001+	All
At home	89	86	90	94	96	98	99	99	95
At work	6	9	11	18	22	24	23	37	22
Mobile phone/WAP/on the move	19	10	14	11	13	12	14	20	14
School, college, university, other educational institution	27	10	8	7	5	7	7	6	8
At another persons home	12	14	10	6	5	9	4	4	7
Public library	11	10	6	3	3	3	2	2	4
Internet café or shop	4	2	2	2	1	1	1	3	2
A government/council office	0	1	0	-	1	0	0	0	0
Community or voluntary centre/organisation	0	0	1	0	0	-	0	0	0
Somewhere else	4	1	2	0	0	1	1	1	1
Don't know	-	0	-	-	-	-	0	-	0
Base	204	354	651	638	612	426	674	721	4,280

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed

The SHS also asks about methods used to access the Internet for personal use. Nearly all Internet users (98u%) used a personal computer or laptop, although 30% had used other devices, such as through the television (digital, cable or satellite), telephone (a mobile or Smartphone), or a games console (e.g. PS2 or xBox) (Table 9.13). In 2009/2010, 16% had used some other method to access the internet, and this is probably explained by the overall increase in internet on the move seen in Table 9.12. Use of alternative methods to access the Internet appears to be more prevalent amongst younger age groups, with 44% of 16-24 year old Internet users using alternative methods, compared to only 2% of Internet users aged 75 and over.

Table 9.13: Which methods are used to access the Internet for personal use by age

Column percentages, 2011 data

Adults who make personal use of the internet	16-24	25-34	35-44	45-59	60-74	75+	All
A personal computer or laptop	96	97	99	99	99	99	98
Other	48	44	33	19	9	2	30
Mobile phone / Smartphone / PDA etc	44	43	30	18	7	1	28
A games console	14	8	6	2	0	-	6
Digital, cable or satellite television	1	4	2	2	2	0	2
Another way	1	1	0	0	1	1	1
Base	481	769	924	1,215	848	163	4,400

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed

Why people do not use the Internet

The SHS asked adults who make no personal use of the Internet the reasons why they did not (Table 9.14). Among the most common responses related to people's preferences or requirements were, 30% saying they did not like using the Internet/computers, 26% saying they did not need to use the Internet/computers and 16% saying there is nothing of interest on the Internet. Not knowing how to use a computer appears to be another common reason for not using the Internet: around a quarter of non-users (23%) said that they did not know how to use a computer, and a further 7% said that it would be too difficult to learn to use the Internet. Cost also seems to be an issue, with 11% saying that they could not afford a computer and 3% saying that an Internet connection would be too expensive.

Table 9.14: Reasons why people might not use the Internet (other than work)

Percentages, 2011 data

Adults who make no personal use of the internet
I don't like using the internet or computers	30
I don't need to use the internet or computers	26
I don't know how to use a computer	23
There's nothing of interest to me on the internet	16
I can't afford a computer	11
It would be too difficult to learn how to use the internet	7
I prefer to do things in person rather than use computers	8
Internet connection would be too expensive	3
I am concerned about privacy e.g. keeping credit card or personal details safe	3
I  have a disability or illness that prevents me	3
I am worried about the unsuitable or inappropriate material on the internet	1
Other reason	8
Base	2,033

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses allowed

Use of Local Authority and Government Websites

It is possible to access an increasing number of public services and information online. Online services and information can be quicker and more convenient for people to use, and can be provided at a lower cost than other methods. However, a person's use of websites to access public services is dependent both upon them having access to the Internet and their tendency to access information or services online. The SHS explored the part played by ICT-based public service delivery by asking which, if any, things the respondent had ever used their local council website and (non-specified) government websites for.

Table 9.15 presents the proportions of respondents who have ever used a local council or government website. The figures for all adults help present a fuller picture of the use of these websites, as they take into account the fact that 24% of adults surveyed did not use the Internet (Table 9.7). It should be noted that these figures do not take account whether people have actually needed to access information or use these services in the first place (for example, only car owners require road tax and few people each year need to renew their passport).

Table 9.15: Use (ever) of public services on the Internet

Column percentages, 2011 data

Adults	Internet users	All adults
Local authority website
Finding information	48	38
Download a form	14	11
Make a complaint	6	5
Ask a question	8	6
Participate in a discussion forum	1	1
Access services like report a fault, renew library books, planning applications	10	8
Make payment like council tax or parking fine	10	8
Some other purpose	9	7
Any purpose	56	44
None of these	44	31
Do not use the Internet	-	24
Base	9,339	12,779
Government website
Apply for road tax	36	29
Complete income tax assessment	9	7
Register to vote	9	7
Look for information: health services	16	12
Look for information: healthy living/health	11	9
Apply for / renew TV licence	19	15
Apply for benefits	5	4
Renew passport	14	11
Other	8	6
Any purpose	57	46
None of these	43	31
Do not use the Internet	-	24
Base	4,668	6,370

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

The question on use of government websites was only asked of half the sample.

When looking at Internet users specifically, less than half have made no use of either local authority websites (44%) or government websites (43%). Among those who had used local authority websites, the most common reasons were to find information or to apply for road tax. In contrast, only a very small proportion (1%) had ever participated in a discussion forum using local authority websites.