Welsh Affairs Committee Inquiry into Digital Inclusion in Wales

BT’s response

February 2009

Digital Inclusion in Wales - comments from BT

Introduction 1. BT Wales welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Welsh Affairs Select Committee inquiry into Digital Inclusion in Wales. This written submission provides a snapshot of BT’s current activity, as a partner of government and wider civil society, in assisting digital inclusion.

2. BT is the world’s oldest communications company, tracing our history back to the UK’s Electric Telegraph Company established in 1846. However, we have come a long way since then. BT’s story is one of transformation, a story of a company that has grown and prospered. Today we operate in 170 countries and employ over 100,000 people. We have one of the largest IP networks in the world and serve 18 million customers – from consumers and small businesses, to some of the world’s largest global companies.

3. Our products – which include home telephones, BT Vision (our television service), broadband and complex IT networks – help our customers communicate. Thanks to investment from BT, more homes in the UK now have access to broadband than have access to mains water and more than half of UK households are now connected to broadband.

4. As a social corporate citizen BT in Wales sees itself as a positive partner:

• supporting its communities - through schemes encouraging digital inclusion; • championing the Welsh language - with an award-winning bilingual policy; • promoting competitiveness - by investing millions in the Welsh economy annually.

5. BT is helping Wales to take its place in the global knowledge economy. BT is equally as proud of its record in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), playing a leading role on a range of issues, from tackling climate change to helping alleviate social exclusion.

6. In the specific field of digital inclusion, BT is committed to delivering on its corporate social responsibilities to bridge any barriers to an inclusive society. Examples of such activity carried out by BT include:

• over 99% broadband coverage in the UK means everybody can benefit from the opportunities of fast communication; • we communicate with customers in ways that suit them, with available alternative formats including Audio CD, Data CD, Braille, E-Information and Large Print; • our inclusive design toolkit encourages product designers to develop products that are accessible to as many people as possible; • the BT Internet Rangers website provides tools for young people to teach older relatives how to use the internet; • we are working with Age Concern to help transform their nationwide computer drop-in centres and access points into a network of Silver Surfer clubs; • we are similarly active outside the UK. For example, BT is working with Unicef on “Inspiring Young Minds”, a three year strategic programme in which BT is investing £1.5 million into projects that focus on bringing education, ICT and communications skills to

Welsh Affairs – Digital inclusion in Wales: BT comments February 2009 Page 1 of 8 disadvantaged children in South Africa (2007/8), Brazil (2008/9) and China (2009/2010).

The recommendations of the Government’s Digital Inclusion Action Plan, with respect to their application to Wales

7. Please see attached, in Annex A, a copy of BT’s response to the UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Action Plan.

8. One of the key comments in that response was that whilst we agreed with much of the analysis concerning the types of people who are excluded (older people/those with disabilities), we would like to see further focus by the UK Government on pinpointing specific geographical communities. As noted in point 16 of our consultation response:

“There is a passing reference to Project Access in Cumbria (in Chapter 4 on page 31). The document also refers to stats from the ONS in the North East England. It would be interesting to know the picture in other areas. For example, there is a similar picture in the South Wales valleys, which are characterised by social deprivation – high levels of sickness/higher than average unemployment/low educational and skills levels/highest teenage pregnancy rates/high sickness levels. Access to broadband is high but take-up is very low – hovering above 30%. Focusing on geographic areas might provide a more rounded picture alongside the existing demographics information.”

9. BT Wales believe that in addition to targeting specific groups such as elderly people, specific targeting of areas in Wales with low broadband take-up, such as the South Wales valleys, may be the most effective means of increasing digital inclusion overall. At the time of writing, BT is currently involved with a leading Welsh think tank, The Bevan Foundation, in preparing the ground for a research project pinpointing reasons behind low broadband take-up in these South Wales valley communities.

The role, responsibilities and actions of the Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and local government in promoting digital inclusion, especially with regard to (a) education and young people; (b) access to services; and (c) availability and access for hard-to-reach groups.

10. BT Wales believes that joint collaboration across sectors from public, private and the voluntary sector is a highly effective way to increase digital inclusion across the entire nation.

11. Over numerous years BT has worked in collaboration with both the Welsh Assembly Government and local authorities in order to increase digital inclusion in Wales.

Welsh Assembly Government – Communities@One. 12. In 2005 BT held initial discussions with several voluntary groups in Wales and with the WAG following three successful projects it ran working with Citizens Online. The three projects were in Rhyl West, Rhondda and Newport. The basic approach was to employ a full time community worker from each of the wards identified for the projects. The community worker became the ICT champion and encouraged take up of technology by identifying people’s

Welsh Affairs – Digital inclusion in Wales: BT comments February 2009 Page 2 of 8 interests and needs. The aim was to establish a Wales wide programme using the same methodology. The WAG saw the benefits of this approach and created the communities@one programme, which has been hugely successful. BT has remained involved with the project through the advisory board. Communities@one has been able to support many wide-ranging projects across Wales, some of which have also had BT involvement. Communities@One was recently shortlisted for the European e-inclusion awards. We understand the WAG intends to develop the programme into a new project to be called Communities 2.0 and to look specifically at the role of social enterprises in community regeneration.

Local Government – Looked After Children Project 13. The Looked After Children project in Caerphilly, was launched in December 2007 and in Carmarthen in 2008. BT in Wales identified that Looked after Children are a particularly vulnerable group and often excluded from digital technology as they do not have consistent access to a computer or broadband connection at home. This is a contributory factor to their low educational attainment which in turn impacts on their employability and life chances. BT has worked with two local authorities, Carmarthen and Caerphilly, to provide computers and broadband connections at the homes of the families caring for Looked After Children. In Caerphilly the local authority was able to obtain funding from the Welsh Assembly Government to augment the funding received from BT and, therefore, has been able to reach more children, 90 in total across the borough. BT has also initiated a programme to provide work experience in BT for Looked After Children and we are in active discussion with the WAG Minister for Children and Young People on ways in which this can be developed further. We hope that other private sector organizations will join in offering a pan Wales work placement programme for looked after children and care leavers.

Voluntary sector partnerships with BT in Wales 14. BT has worked with a number of voluntary organisations in Wales ranging from Barnardo’s Cymru to Valleys Kids, from Help the Aged to Childline Cymru. Some recent projects carried out in partnership with local community and voluntary sector groups, include:

• assisting both financially and free consultancy time with a community house in Holyhead, MORLO (Morawelon and London Road community project), to provide an ICT resource for digitally excluded people living on the estate and surrounding areas; • creation of a digital inclusion programme, titled TARAN, in order to raise awareness for tenants and residents on the Treseifion council estate of the opportunities that arise when people have the required skills and access to ICT. To date the programme has been a great success drawing in new partners such as RNIB Cymru and Careers Wales.

The adequacy of technological infrastructure provision throughout Wales (including Broadband, wireless, mobile, digital TV and digital radio).

15. The future success of the Welsh and UK economies depends on them being ready for competition between knowledge economies. A knowledge economy requires world-class education, an environment that encourages entrepreneurialism, and a competitive cost base. We have to work at being world-class in all of these - we cannot presume to automatic leadership in any

Welsh Affairs – Digital inclusion in Wales: BT comments February 2009 Page 3 of 8 area. As is now almost universally accepted, the immediate competitive challenge is coming from Asia.

16. The next generation of global competition will, therefore, have a profound impact upon the competitiveness of the UK. Britain will need to take tough choices in the fields of education, innovation and productivity to take advantage of the major economic changes which lie ahead. The current economic turmoil adds a layer of complexity, of course. Broadband networks, fixed and wireless, are changing the nature of the economy, the way we do business, the way we learn, and the way we use our leisure time. Businesses will increasingly outsource activities across the world – this means skilled, financial and intellectual jobs. The UK needs to develop high-value skilled jobs and people to avoid the whole value chain being outsourced.

17. The UK has been at the forefront of the broadband revolution. We have moved from less than 150,000 broadband connections in 2002 to around 13 million now. At over 99% availability we are world leaders. Current take up levels for broadband are just over 60%, which puts the UK second in the G7 and on the fastest improvement trajectory.

18. As the leading private sector investor in broadband across the UK, BT broadband take-up among Welsh customers has been growing rapidly over the last year and currently stands at around 32%, compared with the national average take-up of around 29%. Our competitors also have broadband customers and the May 2008 report suggests that overall broadband take-up in Wales was then around 45%. Already, approximately 60% of homes in the UK are connected to broadband and this is facilitating people working from home some or all of the time – for example, over 10% of BT’s own workforce works from home and a total of around 70% are equipped to work flexibly. BT take up figures for the counties of Anglesey, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire are around 50%.

19. BT has completed its roll out of ADSL Broadband to 100% of telephone exchanges in Wales, bringing the benefits of broadband to nearly all communities, and with an active effort to rectify any existing areas in Wales which, for geographical or other reasons cannot presently receive broadband - the so-called ‘not-spots’ areas. , the BT company which provides the connections between the customers and the local exchange on a wholesale basis to numerous communication providers, is proactively seeking solutions for a host of not-spots across Wales, both in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government and, where commercially viable, at its own cost.

20. The UK Government’s Digital Britain work has, amongst many other things, raised the question of a universal service commitment for broadband. As noted in action 17 of the Digital Britain interim-report in January 2009:

“We will develop plans for a digital Universal Service Commitment to be effective by 2012, delivered by a mixture of fixed and mobile, wired and wireless means. Subject to further study of the costs and benefits, we will set out our plans for the level of service which we believe should be universal. We anticipate this consideration will include options up to 2Mb/s.”

21. We look forward to working in partnership with the UK Government over coming months to flesh out further “detailed proposals for the design and operation of a new, more broadly-based scheme to fund the Universal Service Commitment for the fully digital age – including who should contribute and its

Welsh Affairs – Digital inclusion in Wales: BT comments February 2009 Page 4 of 8 governance and accountability” (Action 18, Digital Britain interim-report, January 2009). The way this is implemented will clearly impact upon future activity to address broadband not spot though it is as yet unclear what percentage of coverage the UK Government will recommend in its final Digital Britain report.

22. UK businesses and public sector bodies that require significant bandwidth are already well served, with more than 200,000 companies in the UK already having fibre laid directly to their premises. BT is taking this one step further with plans to roll out fibre-based, super-fast broadband to as many as ten million homes by 2012. The initial £1.5 billion programme will deliver a range of services based on both FTTP (fibre to the premises) and FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) with top speeds of up to 100Mb, with the potential for speeds of more than 1,000Mb in the future. This investment forms part of BT’s wider strategy of delivering next-generation broadband services nationwide, available as a wholesale service that can be bought by a whole range of broadband retailers and ISPs.

23. Communication networks are a vital part of the nation’s infrastructure, and a critical component of the UK’s industrial competitiveness. Investment is vital to build long-term success in an increasingly competitive market place. In 2008, Whitchurch in Cardiff was chosen by BT as one out of two pilots in the UK to be at the vanguard of FTTC Super Fast Broadband enablement.

24. With BT’s 21CN investment, including WBC, the FTTC SFBB, as well as localised wireless technology Cardiff is well on its way to achieving its goal of being a major Digital City.

The extent of digital exclusion (through lack of access, skills and/or motivation) throughout Wales compared to the regions of England, other nations in the UK and abroad

25. BT is aware of the Webb report on training and skills in Wales and of the ongoing activity, under the leadership of Sir Adrian, to address the key issue of skills in the workforce.

26. BT is an active member of eSkills (the ICT sector skills Council) in Wales and has supported activities such as Computer Clubs for Girls, (CC4G), which help young girls embrace ICT. Sessions have been held with Welsh schools at BT’s data centre in Cardiff.

The ways in which commercial and non-governmental organisations contribute to digital inclusion in Wales, and the opportunities available

27. BT in Wales is an active corporate citizen across numerous cross-cutting fields from supporting the Welsh language to the Climate Change agenda. Last year alone BT made a contribution of over £1 million to the communities of Wales. As a member of the ‘Per Cent Club’ BT commits 1% of its annual pre-tax profits to not-for-profit causes (£22.3 million last year in the UK), that is made up of monetary and in-kind donations. It is this kind of contribution that can make a huge difference to some organisations and community groups.

Welsh Affairs – Digital inclusion in Wales: BT comments February 2009 Page 5 of 8 28. As a commercial organisation operating in Wales, we believe that BT’s contribution to digital inclusion is unparalled.

29. BT is an active member of Business in the Community in Wales and through that organisation has been involved in a variety of activities. These include:

• HRH the Prince of Wales’s climate change summits in 2007 and 2008; • the Wales Seeing is Believing Programme which includes 4 visits by businesses to see specific community activities with a view to increasing their engagement thereby providing community groups and charities with practical support from business; • hosting and sponsoring BITC events on climate change; and • delivering, in partnership with BITC, 20 BT Internet Ranger sessions at schools in the Heads of the Valleys area to encourage children to show parents and grandparents the benefits of the internet.

30. Access to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can improve people’s lives, opening doors to education, jobs and entertainment. But many people are still missing out because they don’t have the opportunity or necessary skills to use the technology. With this in mind BT has numerous ongoing Digital Inclusion Programmes which have allowed hundreds of community and voluntary organisations throughout Wales to benefit from the various digital inclusion schemes BT provides through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.

31. For example:-

• BT Community Connections - Awards of an internet-ready PC and a contribution towards a year's broadband internet access through BT Total Broadband which is open to community and voluntary organisations. www.btcommunityconnections.com • BT Internet Rangers - Awards and events that celebrate the inspiring young people who are using their internet skills to help bridge the digital divide. www.btinternetrangers.co.uk • BT Silver Surfers – BT works in partnership with such organisations as Age Concern in order to access individual grants to fund projects providing support for older people in maximising the use of information and communications technology. • Crossing the Divide - Following the progress of eight new internet users in the ‘Crossing the Divide’ trial. www.btplc.com/Societyandenvironment/Digitalinclusion/Digitalinclu sion.htm • Everybodyonline - Driving ICT uptake and use in communities across the UK. www.citizensonline.org.uk/conline • Netmums - Helping parents to link up online. www.netmums.com • Free Website Builder - Free, easy-to-build websites for charities, schools and community groups. www.communitykit.co.uk

32. These and other programmes are run by BT across Wales, offering a targeted approach be it to a specific geographical community or social group.

33. One example of targeting specific groups is the work BT has carried out in assisting deaf and hard of hearing groups in receiving equality of access to our products and services. An important part of this was making our information easier to use and understand. Our BSL on the Internet project is

Welsh Affairs – Digital inclusion in Wales: BT comments February 2009 Page 6 of 8 just one way that we are making information more accessible. In 2006, we were the first FTSE 100 Company to provide BSL information on our website, subsequently developing a website called BT Sign to assist in digital inclusion for those deaf and hard of hearing groups.

34. In 2008 BT replaced its existing schemes to help those on low incomes with BT Basic, which is aimed at those who receive Income Support, Income- based Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment Support Allowance (Income based) or Guaranteed Pension Credit. The new service seeks to maximise digital inclusion for those worst affected in tough economic conditions.

The risks to citizens (in particular children and young people), businesses and the economy of Wales associated with the use of technology (including internet crime).

35. BT is committed to providing the best possible protection for its customers and to do this BT not only offers a range of protection in the network but also a wide range of security features are provided as part of the email, narrowband and broadband ISP service to UK consumers. In any discussion of these issues, however, it is important to retain a sense of proportion and to weigh the huge benefits of using modern technology against potential risks.

36. There is no single solution to the issue of online safety. However, a combination of education and technical solutions will provide an environment in which all consumers and businesses can utilise a combination of protections that maintain a balanced approach. It is important for all users to maintain a sensible approach to using the technology, recognising the potential pitfalls and managing them in a sensible way.

37. Safe usage of the internet for children is the subject of many initiatives, recognising that children are less experienced in the ways of the world and may have a propensity to divulge more information about themselves to strangers than they ought. This, of course, is an issue much wider than just in the online environment.

38. BT provides comprehensive parental control protection to all its narrowband and broadband customers. The parental controls are provided by Yahoo! and enable parents to block websites considered to be unsuitable, restrict the number of hours and the times of the day that children access the Internet. The service has a Kids, Teens and Mature Teens setting to enable parents to protect their children. There are also controls to protect against Instant Messaging (IM) abuse, for blocking webcams, file transfer, voice communications, chat rooms and multi way conferencing.

39. Internet security is both a product issue and a user concern. Amongst other things, users should:- • understand the risks and safeguards available • ensure firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software are installed • keep these protections up to date • keep their computer operating systems up to date • protect personal and financial details • set up parental controls where children are computer users and move the computer to a family room

40. To supplement the actions users should be taking themselves, ISPs can take additional measures on their behalf. For example, BT uses a spam detection

Welsh Affairs – Digital inclusion in Wales: BT comments February 2009 Page 7 of 8 system called “Spam Buster“, which not only tracks down “professional” spam emanating from the BT network but also protects individual PCs against being hijacked to produce more spam.

41. BT’s Internet Green X Code, in association with leading children’s charities, seeks to encourage parents and child to be vigilant of the dangers associated with the internet. The code teaches parents a number of safety precautions such as: “Teach them to be as careful about strangers online as they are on the street.” BT holds a bilingual Internet Green X Code (www.bt.com/education) promoted regularly in BT Internet Rangers events across the length and breadth of Wales.

42. BT in Wales also works actively with other organisations such as WISE KIDS in order to ensure that citizens (in particular children and young people) have a high level of competency when it comes to internet safety. WISE KIDS is a not-for-profit company, founded in October 2002 in part to promote innovative, positive and safe Internet use. In October 2008, BT was one of the main sponsors of the WISE KIDS organised Wales Internet Safety Partnership (WISP) one day national conference in Swansea. The one day conference provided an opportunity for key public, private and voluntary sector groups to come together to share best practice in fields such as eSafety. We plan to launch a Welsh Language Internet Safety project at the Urdd Eisteddfod in 2009, in partnership with Wise Kids and the Urdd to raise awareness and promote safe internet usage. Additionally two further one day conferences will be held by WISP during 2009 and we will co fund these to ensure the safety agenda is visible and understood.

Conclusion 43. BT welcomes this opportunity to set-out its key activities in the field of digital inclusion in Wales. Working in partnership with all tiers of government we strive to ensure a Welsh citizenry educated and digitally included in all walks of life, both for their economic and social return.

British Telecommunications plc February 2009

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