Part 3.1 Background - The key to the modern world

It took 13 years for television to reach 50 million people, but it has taken less than half that time for 407 million people to be online, exploiting the world wide web. By the end of 2000, nearly 50% of people in North America were online, compared with 28% in the UK. This is an example of a global divide that potentially leaves the UK less innovative, competitive and successful. For the increasingly important mobile technologies, Europe has a lead on the US but within Europe the Nordic countries currently dominate. In order to build and sustain the economy in the Information Age, the UK needs its population to be increasingly literate in terms of information and communications technology.

Within the UK there are more local examples of a digital divide. 40% of homes have a personal computer, and 12.5 million people use the Internet. Those that do not are increasingly disenfranchised, not only from the benefits of being online, but also from the employment market, which increasingly demands IT proficiency throughout the workforce. These differences are further exacerbated by geographic divergence. Businesses in London and the South East are the dominant online traders, with those in Wales and the North East lagging far behind ¹² . There is also an age discrepancy, with older people often less able to use and exploit technology. Each of these contrasts highlights a section of the UK population that is less able to compete within the UK employment market, and less able to help the UK itself compete in the global market. Advantages flow to countries that have lowered barriers to entering the Information Age, with easier access to technology and training, and cheaper availability of the Internet and mobile communications.

IT is widely acknowledged to be the new literacy requirement of the 21st Century. Almost all businesses use information and communications technologies, in rapidly changing and increasingly complex and critical ways. The UK needs an employee base that is competent in and enthusiastic about the use of IT. Employers report that a generic gap in IT user skills amongst current employees is, after occupationally-specific skills, one of the most significant problems they face ¹³ . There is an urgent need both to increase demand for skills and to improve the UK's ability to meet this demand through appropriate training and qualifications. IT user skills are the key to the modern world.

¹² Source: Business in the Information Age 2000
¹³ Source: Skills for all: proposals for a National Skills Agenda, DfEE 2000 .