Scottish Minimum Digital Living Standard: interim report

8 Conclusions

This interim report presents findings from the first phase of MDLS Scotland research, which examined the potential applicability of the MDLS in the Scottish context. This included focus groups with parents and young people and interviews with key stakeholders, such as representatives of local authorities and civil society organisations conducting digital inclusion work in Scotland.

As shown above, participants were consistently positive about the MDLS and thought its definition was comprehensive and relevant to Scotland. More specifically, we found that people believed that the MDLS covers the three main aspects of digital inclusion: digital access and equipment, digital literacy (both functional and critical), and confidence. They were also particularly enthusiastic about its emphasis on the broader implications of digital inclusion for living a decent and meaningful life. Meeting the MDLS is not merely about adding convenience to people’s lives, it is about what they need to be included in the current digitalised world.

The stakeholder interviews and focus groups with households included discussions about accessibility and affordability. Both of these feed into the idea that the internet should be considered a utility or even a human right, with public Wi-Fi access and affordable broadband for every household being fundamental for the Scottish people.

The MDLS research is about establishing needs, but it also explores how meeting these needs and reaching MDLS depend on access to a range of resources and external factors. Financial resources, the affordability of goods and services, the adequacy of infrastructure affecting broadband coverage and mobile reception, and the availability and quality of support to acquire knowledge and skills all affect households’ ability to meet digital needs.

Digital goods, services, and skills are vital for families with children so that they can interact, complete everyday tasks, and access services and opportunities. While the idea of a Scottish MDLS was well-received, several challenges to its practical implementation were discussed.

Key challenges relate to Scotland’s geographical landscape, as issues of rurality and the scattered nature of communities make connectivity and the task of reaching these communities with support difficult. Whether a family lives in an urban or rural location does not change the need to be connected and engaged in society, but sometimes the means for achieving this differ. In the Scottish context, rurality and rural infrastructure present specific key challenges, which appear to be more acute than those identified in other UK areas through our National and Welsh MDLS work. Further investigation of these specific challenges needs to be undertaken. As our work in Wales identified, living in a rural area can increase the need for digital access and skills, especially where local services (e.g., medical and banking services) shift to digital formats. Group discussions highlighted that households living in rural Scotland may need more mobile phone data than those in urban Scotland to achieve adequate connectivity. Families living in rural Scotland can face other barriers to securing what they need for digital inclusion, such as disparities in infrastructure provision and the availability of accessible skills development. In phase 2 of the project, we will seek to explore these issues in greater depth. However, the statistics also indicate that complex intersectional issues in Scottish urban areas can lead to as many or even greater numbers of citizens being disconnected than in rural areas. Again, understanding how these urban factors differ from those in rural areas and which solutions are appropriate in each country may require further investigation.

In addition, poverty remains a barrier to social and digital inclusion in Scotland, compounding the difficulty of reaching communities with other intersectional factors such as language barriers, disability, and age. Relatedly, civil society organisations and local authorities are struggling with the current funding landscape. Various government and charitable funding is short-term and too prescriptive, and uncertainty around the ending of the successful and much-praised Connecting Scotland programme causes apprehension and disappointment.

The MDLS research captures what individuals and households need to possess and have access to if they choose to engage digitally, but this does not come from a view that digital inclusion is an individual responsibility. Families’ digital inclusion can be improved by policy, public provision and by the practice of companies that provide goods and services. Targeted infrastructure, a better choice of service providers and social tariffs which are fit for purpose are examples of ways to improve the connectivity of households. Device manufacturers can play a role in developing the skills of parents and young people alongside community-based support. And better access to digital goods will help to mitigate issues of affordability, such as with the upscaling of the Inspire Learning Programme, which has been a good example of the Scottish Government’s response to digitalisation highlighted by parents and young people.

To address the above challenges and allow for the implementation of a Scottish MDLS, participants in the stakeholder interviews remarked on the importance of building on best practices (e.g., the co-production of resources and projects with communities) and of taking a joined-up approach, allowing for more and better coordination to ensure that digital inclusion is a priority across different departments and levels. Crucial to this would be the recruitment and funding of more permanent professional roles with specific responsibility for digital inclusion and the mandate to implement the MDLS across the different institutions and bodies in their local area. In short, while participants expressed a lot of enthusiasm about the MDLS and the good digital inclusion work that has been taking place in Scotland, there is still a lot of uncertainty on the ground as to whether and how this work will be funded moving forward, with the recognition that any implementation would require both more funding and more support from the Scottish Government.