Audit Scotland Digital Exclusion National Performance Audit
Argyll and Bute Council · 26 September 2024
Back to Argyll and Bute Council — 26 September 2024 and its agenda
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL CUSTOMER SUPPORT SERVICES 26 SEPTEMBER 2024 AUDIT SCOTLAND DIGITAL EXCLUSION NATIONAL PERFORMANCE AUDIT 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 Audit Scotland undertook a national audit of digital exclusion in 2023. Argyll and Bute were one of the Councils invited to participate in evidence gathering. Engagement by Audit Scotland with Council representatives and community groups in Argyll and Bute took place during summer and autumn 2023. The report was published on 22nd August 2024 and is attached here for information. Audit Scotland will attend Council to present their findings and recommendations. As public services move more to take advantage of the opportunities and benefits of online service delivery and customer fulfilment, it becomes increasingly important to recognise the challenges facing those citizens who are digitally excluded. This report summarises the challenges identified by the Audit, highlights the specific issues affecting Argyll and Bute and highlights some of the work being undertaken and planned by the Council to address these issues. Recommendations It is recommended that Council: 1. Consider the report and the presentation by Audit Scotland. 2. Note the specific issues facing Argyll and Bute in digital exclusion. 3. Note the progress that the Council is making in tackling digital exclusion and that further work will be undertaken by officers to address recommendations in the report where appropriate.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COUNCIL CUSTOMER SUPPORT SERVICES 26 SEPTEMBER 2024 AUDIT SCOTLAND DIGITAL EXCLUSION NATIONAL PERFORMANCE AUDIT 2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.1 Audit Scotland undertook a national audit of digital exclusion in 2023. Argyll and Bute were one of the Councils invited to participate in evidence gathering. Engagement by Audit Scotland with Council representatives and community groups in Argyll and Bute took place during summer and autumn 2023. The report was published on 22nd August 2024 and is attached here for information. Audit Scotland will attend Council to present their findings and recommendations. As public services move more to take advantage of the opportunities and benefits of digital service delivery and customer fulfilment, it becomes increasingly important to recognise the challenges facing those citizens who are digitally excluded. The Audit Scotland report highlights significant concerns about digital exclusion across Scotland, particularly in rural, remote and island areas such as Argyll and Bute. Digital exclusion, which includes limited access to the internet, lack of digital skills, and inadequate digital infrastructure, exacerbates social and economic inequalities, especially in geographically dispersed regions like Argyll and Bute (Audit Scotland Report, p. 15, para. 4.1). The Council and partners are working together to tackle these issues where we can and this paper sets out some of the actions and commitments that are in place. 3.0 RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended that Council: 3.1 Consider the report and the presentation by Audit Scotland. 3.2 Note the specific issues facing Argyll and Bute in digital exclusion. 3.3 Note the progress that the Council is making in tackling digital exclusion and that further work will be undertaken by officers to address recommendations in the report where appropriate. 4.0 DETAIL 4.1 Audit Scotland approached the Council in 2023 to advise that they were planning this important national audit, and that Argyll and Bute had been
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selected as one of the Council areas to carry out evidence gathering and fieldwork for the Audit. A cross service working group, led by the Head of Customer Support Services, was established and held a series of meetings with the Audit Scotland Team, to discuss and explore data, evidence and information that was provided on current Council and partner activities relating to Digital Inclusion. Audit Scotland also wished as part of their fieldwork to engage with communities across Argyll and Bute. Officers from Community Planning and Education supported the Audit Team to set up focus groups and enable on site engagement to gather citizen views of digital exclusion. This report highlights some of the key challenges identified by the audit and illustrates some of the actions that are already underway by the council and those that are planned in future. The Council recognises that a lack of digital access can have a negative impact on people’s lives and their ability to access services and so is taking this into account when we design and deliver our services. 4.2 Limited Access – Connectivity and inadequate digital infrastructure One of the fundamentals for digital inclusion is having an accessible connection to fast broadband or mobile data. As of 2024, approximately 85% of premises in Argyll and Bute have access to superfast broadband, compared to the national average of 94% (Ofcom Connected Nations Report 2024, p. 22, para. 3.3). However, this figure masks significant disparities within the region: o Islay, Jura, and Mull: These islands have some of the lowest connectivity rates, with certain areas where less than 60% of homes have access to speeds above 30 Mbps (Argyll and Bute Council, Broadband Coverage Data. o Kintyre Peninsula: Several communities in this area, particularly in Campbeltown and Southend, report limited broadband speeds, often below 10 Mbps, making it difficult for residents to access online services effectively (Scottish Government R100 Program, Connectivity Statistics, 2023). o Coll and Tiree: These islands face severe connectivity issues, with some areas still relying on basic broadband with speeds under 2 Mbps (Scottish Government R100 Program, Connectivity Statistics, 2023). In terms of mobile coverage, while 4G coverage is available in most of Argyll and Bute, there are significant black spots, particularly in the upland and more isolated areas (Ofcom Connected Nations Report 2024) The Council continues to engage with organisations to improve connectivity across the area, recognising the impact that it has for our citizens, our young people and our businesses. The recent Digital Update report to the Economic
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Development and Infrastructure Committee ARGYLL AND BUTE DIGITAL UPDATE.pdf highlights the details of current connectivity and progress that is being made to improve this. Details include updates on the Scottish Government R100 programme, where unfortunately build has been slow due to geographical and logistical challenges. That said, significant improvements have been made in recent months and this progress is accelerating however we are still behind on the contracted build. In terms of mobile connectivity, the Scottish 4G Infill Programme (S4GI), a £27.5M investment targeting mobile signal Not-Spots is now completed with over 50 masts built across rural Scotland, Highland and Argyll and Bute where there are now 7 new sites as well as major fibre spine investment. The Council is also trialling a mobile mapping project, which was approved by the Policy and Resources Committee in February ARGYLL AND BUTE MOBILE COVERAGE MAPPING.pdf (argyll-bute.gov.uk) which is a joint initiative with the Scottish Futures Trust. This will provide more granular information for mobile signal mapping. The Council also accessed £100k from the Scottish Government’s Islands Infrastructure Fund to engage, supply and support four communities to establish Digital Hubs on the islands of Coll, Tiree, Iona and Islay. The project has now been successfully concluded and has been a huge success with the communities managing to deliver new communication lines and ventures that they would have been unable to previously. Continuing to raise awareness about the gaps in digital connectivity across our communities and to exert pressure and influence on decision makers is important to push for continuing improvements to infrastructure and enable our citizens to participate in the digital economy and society. 4.3 Lack of digital skills Digital skills are an essential element of digital inclusion. Recognising this, the Community Learning and Development, reporting to the Argyll and Bute Community Planning Partnership in June 2023 referenced Digital Skills as a priority for their three-year plan. This was based on digital skills mapping data that was gathered and complements the other key priorities for Community Learning and Development. The team provide support and assistant to citizens to improve their digital skills and confidence and report regularly to Community Planning on progress. Whilst ‘digital inclusion’ ranked lowest out of the 7 themes provided in last year’s consultation to help inform the new ABOIP, this topic continues to be one of the cross-cutting themes for the Community Planning Partnership as work progresses to prioritise actions for the three outcomes of Transport Infrastructure, Housing and Community Wellbeing.
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4.4 Council services and digital inclusion The Audit Scotland report highlights that Council services are not always easy to access. Argyll and Bute Council adopted a Digital First approach to service delivery and improvement some time ago to maximise the benefits and efficiencies of embracing digital as a way of delivering services. Providing 24/7 access for our citizens to interact with us using a variety of digital channels is one element along with ensuring that our internal systems are developed to take full advantage of digital opportunities. These aspects are two sides of the same important aspect of continuing to improve our performance. Our new Customer Service and Engagement Strategy published in May this year CUSTOMER SERVICE STRATEGY 2024-27.pdf (argyll-bute.gov.uk) APPENDIX 1 CS STRATEGY CHARTER AND ACTION PLAN.pdf (argyll-bute.gov.uk) APPENDIX 2 CUSTOMER SERVICE STRATEGY CHANGES 2024-27.pdf (argyll-bute.gov.uk) APPENDIX 3 ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL EQUALITY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT.pdf (argyll-bute.gov.uk) has a priority to be fair and inclusive, with an inclusive choice for citizens on how to contact the council. It makes a commitment to digital inclusion and support, Island awareness and support for hard-to-reach customers. The new Customer Service Charter pledges: We commit to giving customers a wide and inclusive range of ways to contact and engage with us for their convenience and preference, including person to person and with 24/7 digital assistance. The Customer Service Action Plan supports this with a number of actions. The first of these is Action 1.1: "We will review the findings of the Audit Scotland review on Digital Exclusion due in 2024 and implement relevant customer service-related recommendations”. On that basis, we will add any agreed local actions arising from this Audit Scotland report to our Customer Service Strategy Action Plan and do the same for the refreshed National Digital Strategy when it comes out. Action 3.7 commits us to: "..improve signposting to non-digital access channels for digital strugglers as part of our inclusive approach." This action specifically targets providing clear routes to digital support, particularly for those struggling with digital services. Actions 1.2/1.3/1.4: We will cover specialist cultural, mental health/neurodivergent and language/BSL training for our customer service agents to better assist customers from vulnerable groups, who are most at risk of digital exclusion. We highlight in section 4 (We will provide Digital Convenience), a number of planned Assisted Digital improvements. “The Customer Service and Engagement Team also continue to survey our customers on their post-pandemic contact preferences and insights, paying particular attention to ensuring the Hard-to-Reach cohort of customers is adequately represented, to inform the responsive evolution of our customer
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engagement." The aim of this action is in part to help in our understanding and addressing local digital exclusion needs. The Council has a clear path to improving our digital infrastructure, digital skills and digital service delivery. Our ICT and Digital Strategy 2021 - 2024 (argyll- bute.gov.uk) commits in its opening section to ‘be inclusive and put customers’ needs first’. This goal is reflected throughout the strategy. We recognise that our employees are also citizens of Argyll and Bute and so we aim, as part of our Argyll and Bute People Strategy (argyll-bute.gov.uk) to ensure that our workforce are digitally enabled. Building their skills in digital contributes to overall digital inclusion as well as providing awareness of where digital skills development is an essential prerequisite to designing, delivering and using online services. The Council has also adopted a service design approach that follows the principles of the Scottish Approach to Service Design. This is in the early stages of being developed across the organisation and will start with our soon to be launched Service Design toolkit. The Scottish Approach to Service Design, referenced in the Audit Scotland report (para 80) is identifies as one of the tools to help public bodies consider digital exclusion when designing and delivering services. Council officers also ensure that they carry out equality impact assessments to identify what impact there may be and what adjustments we must make to ensure that our digitally excluded citizens continue to be able to access our services. We recognise that those people who are digitally excluded also tend to be those who are more reliant on public services and those in lower income households. We note the recommendations in the Audit Scotland Report specifically for Councils. Officers are progressing with a detailed assessment of our performance against those recommendations to inform future improvement work and tackle digital exclusion. 5.0 CONCLUSION 5.1 The Audit Scotland report identifies aspects of digital exclusion that we recognise as applicable to our communities and citizens in Argyll and Bute. We have a strong framework for digital development and service design and delivery in future but are also aware of the issues illustrated in the Audit Scotland Report and so welcome its publication. As a Council we commit to ensuring that we continue to take account of those citizens who are digitally excluded from our services as we change, improve, develop and implement improvements.
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6.0 IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Policy Digital Exclusion impacts several of our policies and strategies including the Customer Service Strategy, the ICT and Digital Strategy and the Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement Plan 6.2 Financial None directly from this report. 6.3 Legal None directly from this report 6.4 HR Digital skills amongst our employees, who are also citizens of Argyll and Bute, contribute to overall digital skills in our communities and are supported by our Digital Skills Plan. 6.5 Fairer Scotland Duty: 6.5.1 Equalities – Impact assessments are carried out on any digital service changes or improvements for customers with protected characteristics 6.5.2 Socio-economic Duty Digital Exclusion exacerbates soci-economic inequalities, so we assess digital customer developments against the Fairer Scotland Duty in our EQSEIAs 6.5.3 Islands None Some islands have poorer digital connectivity than others so we assess islands impacts of digital customer developments in our EQSEIAs 6.6 Climate Change None directly from this report, 6.7 Risk None directly from this report 6.8 Customer Service None directly from this report 6.9 The Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Young people’s learning can be impacted by Digital Exclusion, so identifying impacts are essential to ensuring equitable access to skills, devices and connectivity. Kirsty Flanagan, Executive Director with responsibility for Customer Support Services Policy Lead Cllr Mark Irvine For further information contact: Jane Fowler, Head of Customer Support Services jane.fowler@argyll-bute.gov.uk APPENDICES Appendix 1 Tackling digital exclusion | Audit Scotland