Can we continue to digitize services without excluding sections of the population?
The Communications and Digital Committee explores, as part of its continuing inquiry into digital exclusion and the cost of living, how the trend towards moving public and business services online can be managed to ensure it doesn’t further exacerbate digital exclusion. The Committee will also explore the trends towards predictive analytics used in public and private services, and what impact this has on digitally excluded groups with smaller digital footprints.
Meeting details
At 2:30pm: Oral evidence
Inquiry
Digital exclusion and the cost of living
Managing Director of Justice, Central Government and Transport at Capita
Head of Digital, Group Customer Inclusion at Lloyds Bank
Chief Executive Officer at The Institute of Customer Service
Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure at Manchester City Council
At 3:30pm: Oral evidence
Inquiry
Digital exclusion and the cost of living
Director of the Public Policy Programme at The Alan Turing Institute
Director of Research in Machine Learning at University of Cambridge
Background
The Committee is looking at the impact of digital exclusion on individuals and more broadly how digital exclusion is damaging the economy and restricting growth.
Possible questions
Possible lines of questioning to the first panel include:
- What are the biggest factors driving services to move online?
- How should service providers (public and private) ensure they can move public-facing services online without excluding those who struggle to use online options?
- What role do local authorities play in tackling digital exclusion, for example through designing inclusive services, or providing support to local communities?
Possible lines of questioning to the second panel include:
- To what extent are predictive algorithms and algorithmic data analytics currently used in Government and public services, and what is the likely trajectory of this over the next decade?
- To what extent is there a risk that people who are digitally excluded will be disadvantaged by the use of predictive algorithms?
- To what extent could technological innovation, including the use of artificial intelligence, help to address digital exclusion?