Over 10m Brits have never been online

A survey by the government’s Digital Inclusion body has revealed that 17 per cent of the UK population have never used the internet and is a factor in social exclusion.

The survey, commissioned by internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, found that households without the internet are missing out on average savings of £560 per year made by shopping and paying bills online.

“We want to show there is both a moral and economic imperative for the wider community to take the issue of digital inclusion much more seriously,” Lane Fox said.

“With a focus on peer-to-peer training, creative partnerships with private companies and replication of the best public sector projects we believe we can achieve a more digitally included society by 2012.”

This follows last week’s comments by Prince Charles, who called for both the public and private sector to work together to solve the problem of rural “broadband deserts”. He said: “the lack of access to high speed broadband is putting many of those who work in rural communities at a severe disadvantage.”

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