Digital exclusion is another facet of the deep inequalities which run through the social fabric of the UK, and Covid 19 has highlighted that. One thing is clear: the public health crisis currently gripping the UK stands to make the impacts of digital exclusion worse for the millions of people and of the school children effected, where the poorest child will be hit the hardest in terms of positive outcomes for their education.
Therefore as a nation there needs to be free broadband for all as part of the new social contract with the state and its citizens. The laptop also needs to be provided for all children in the UK from the age of 8 up to 18 years old as the laptop is really used as a work book and a communication tool and therefore how is society or nation expecting to progress and gain a competitive advantage in a global world if you have a third of all young persons excluded. from education or are using either one device or sharing a phone or have no broadband or laptop. This is an opportunity of all these levelling up statements and is really a preventative spend which needs to happen now or the levels of inequality within the UK will become even wider over time and some social policy person from government and universities will be writing books on this subject or mapping these results well into the future.
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