Chris Bryant, a minister at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, has claimed the new administration will make it a priority to rectify the previous government’s lack of action

A minister at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has claimed that the previous government’s failure to introduce a new digital inclusion strategy for the past 10 years is a “scandal”.

Chris Bryant, the minister for data protection and telecoms – whose brief covers digital inclusion – claimed that the issue “is a priority for my department and for government”. DSIT will lead work in this area, but the tech department will bring in stakeholders from across Whitehall, he said. The last formal Digital Inclusion Strategy developed by government was published in April 2014 – or five prime ministers ago.

Bryant was recently asked a series of written parliamentary questions by Saqib Bhatti – who, going into the general election, held a role as a DSIT minister under the previous administration – including direct enquiries as to whether the Labour government would pledge to “take steps to develop a digital inclusion strategy”, and commit to providing the funding to do so.

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The new minister did not offer a specific guarantee in this regard, but did state that “digital inclusion is a key priority for the government and it is shocking that the previous government’s out-of-date digital inclusion strategy was published a full decade ago, despite clear evidence that digital exclusion limits economic growth and harms individuals’ chances to study, work and participate fully in society and the modern economy”.

He added: “It is a scandal that the previous government did not introduce a digital inclusion strategy for ten years,” he added. “Work is ongoing to develop our approach to tackling digital exclusion and coordinate across government departments. Digital inclusion means ensuring that everyone has the access, skills, support and confidence to participate in a modern digital society, whatever their circumstances. Government will work closely with the third sector, devolved administrations, businesses and local authorities, many of whom have already implemented highly successful programmes, to ensure interventions are collaborative and targeted to individual needs.”

Criticism of the previous government over the lack of a new digital inclusion strategy has increased in recent years, including concerns raised by sector charities and a parliamentary committee report that concluded that there was “no excuse for inaction”.