Many people in Shropshire still without broadband access

According to the Digital Inclusion Network (DIN), despite 98 per cent of premises in Shropshire being able to get broadband, the uptake is only around 70 per cent.

Co-chaired by Robert Smith from Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin and David Baker from Shropshire Council, the network includes representatives from local government, NHS, community organisations, and businesses, to raise awareness of digital exclusion, engage stakeholders, conduct research, and propose solutions to reduce the digital divide.

Set up a year ago, DIN has made progress in identifying barriers and promoting digital inclusion across the community. The Digital Skills Programme, launched in 2020, has been instrumental in improving digital literacy among Shropshire residents. However, work still needs to be done.

“We need to understand why there is that gap,” said Mr Baker, who is head of automation and technology at Shropshire Council.

“Is it because people are actively choosing not to use broadband or are there other limiting factors? We are proposing to do some research to try and figure out what are those barriers and how we can break them down for people.

“It could be a number of reasons or it could be that they have access to the internet, they’re just choosing to do it via another mechanism, like maybe they’re using a mobile phone. But we don’t understand the statistics at the moment, so we need to know where we need to be focusing our efforts.”

After receiving the report, members of the Shropshire Health and Wellbeing Board agreed to enforce both the expansion of digital infrastructure to continue to invest in improving broadband connectivity, especially in rural areas, and enhance digital skills training.