London Taskforce launched to help close digital divide

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and London Councils have launched a new taskforce to tackle digital exclusion in the city and source new and upcycled electronic devices for children learning remotely, as well as adults working from home.

The Mayor and council leaders are encouraging Londoners, businesses and the public sector to donate old devices to a number of London-based and national charities so they can be upcycled for those most in need – and have jointly published a list so Londoners can find out how and where to donate their devices.

One of the objectives of the new taskforce – led by London’s Chief Digital Officer – is to comprehensively map out the need for devices and reliable connectivity across London. It will also play a key role in helping allocate significant investment in digital infrastructure – to help connect areas of London currently struggling with poor connectivity – and helping Londoners gain important digital skills.

This supports the work of the London Recovery Programme, whose nine missions include ensuring every Londoner has access to good connectivity, basic digital skills and the device or support they need to be online by 2025.

As part of this, the Mayor has allocated £1.5 million over the next two years in his recently-published draft budget to work with the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) to understand fully the levels of digital exclusion across London and help Londoners access the devices and skills they need to get online.

The Mayor and London’s local leaders have been working with London Grid for Learning (LGfL), a charitable organisation which works on behalf of the capital’s local authorities to provide schools with devices for their pupils.

The charity provided 100,000 devices for schools around the country during the first lockdown and has recently ordered 100,000 more. However, fully meeting the demand remains a huge challenge, not least some equipment takes several weeks to arrive from the supplier.

Councils in London are currently assessing the need in their areas, with some reporting as many as 8,000 pupils still lack devices, even taking into account those which have already been ordered.

LGfL is also working to secure a wireless connectivity deal with a major mobile network and is working with schools to reconditioning older devices.