The Digital Britain report, published by communications minister Lord Stephen Carter last week, presents in its 245 pages the most wide-ranging blueprint ever produced for the future role of technology in the UK. It covers the effect of IT on everything from education to the economy, security, government procurement and public service delivery.

Critics have slammed the report as lacking ambition; others have pointed out flaws in some of the most controversial areas, such as the so-called “broadband tax”; but one thing is certain ­ as the recommendations are put in place, Digital Britain will have a major influence on the lives of IT leaders and professionals across the UK.
Here Computing rounds up the key areas that affect UK IT.

Digital participation

The government is to develop a National Plan for Digital Participation, which aims to “increase the reach, breadth and depth of digital technology use across all sections of society, to maximise digital participation and the economic and social benefits it can bring.”

Some £12m of funding will go to a “consortium of stakeholders”, led by regulator Ofcom, tasked with achieving an online equivalent of the digital TV switchover to help move the whole of the UK on to the internet. The group will also be working with the newly appointed champion for digital inclusion, Lastminute.com founder Martha Lane Fox.

Skills

A three-year Digital Economy Programme will invest £120m in research and training to prepare the country for the next 20 years of digital evolution. Some of the cash will go towards three new research hubs, launched in 2009 with funding of £12m each, addressing the core issues facing Digital Britain.

The £2.7m e-Skills UK Revitalise IT project aims to address the decline in uptake of IT-related degree courses. Other existing skills initiatives will continue, aimed at improving IT education in schools, and to encourage more IT training in the workplace.

The government will invest £8.5m in a National Skills Academy for IT, with a similar level of employer funding expected over three years. The Academy expects to train 10,000 IT professionals in its first three years.

Some £23m will be given to pilot projects aimed at helping small businesses exploit advanced technology to transform their operations.

Digital security

The government is writing a national cyber security strategy, following in the footsteps of a similar plan announced for the US by President Barack Obama last month.

Later this year, the government will carry out a test of the UK’s ability to manage and recover from a major loss of telecommunications network capacity.

A report on the work of the Electronic Communications Resilience and Response Group, responsible for protecting the UK’s critical national infrastructure, will be published for the first time to encourage wider involvement and input into security planning.

To achieve better co-ordination between the various bodies responsible for policing e-crime, the government aims to set up the Tripartite Internet Crime and Security Initiative, for MPs, civil servants and business to look at the issues involved. Chaired by Alun Michael MP, the group will complement the work of the Serious Organised Crime Agency’s e-crime team, the Police Central e-Crime Unit and the National Fraud Strategic Authority.

The Information Commissioner is also developing a new code of practice for the use of personal information online, which the government will support after consultation.

Digital content

The report recognises the challenges facing entrepreneurs and content producers in developing new online content and establishing the innovative business models that the digital world allows. To help address this, a number of “next-generation digital test beds” will be set up to trial new online services, assess the response of potential users, and examine new business models in a collaborative environment prior to their launch.

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest £10m to lead the creation of the digital test beds, focusing on four main areas: new ways to monetise online content; alternative business models for intellectual property use to minimise piracy; new models of identity management, security and privacy; and context and content-aware network operation that uses the nature and ownership of data traffic to allow its intelligent management.

The report also proposed new legislation to crack down on illegal downloading.

Government IT

All government departments are to be encouraged to procure new IT services based on a cloud computing model. Development of the “G-cloud” ­ a government-wide cloud computing network ­ is to be made a priority. While the plan is developed over the next three years, all other IT services procurement should follow a similar model in preparation.

To ensure a policy of IT standardisation is followed and to prevent projects veering away from the new strategy, government chief information officer John Suffolk is to be given new powers to sign off all major Whitehall IT projects.

The plan recognises that smaller IT suppliers have found it difficult to bid for government projects, and the report introduces recommendations that are designed to allow small, innovative firms a better opportunity to provide services through a simpler, faster purchasing process.

The report also highlights the development of a virtual Public Service Network (PSN) with “common design, standards, service level agreements, security and governance.”

The creation of the PSN and G-Cloud are aimed at supporting a “Digital Switchover of Public Service” programme that will see most government services moved to use the internet as the main point of access and delivery.

Broadband

The most widely publicised area of the report is the proposal for a minimum 2Mbit/s broadband to be available to everyone in the UK by 2012, and the creation of a 50p-per-month levy on fixed telephone lines to help fund the rollout of next-generation fibre-optic connectivity with bandwidth up to 100Mbit/s. The aim is to deliver superfast broadband to 90 per cent of homes by 2017. A new Network Design and Procurement Group will be set up to oversee progress on broadband rollout.

Mobile network operators will be given their 3G licences in perpetuity, instead of fixed-term contracts, to encourage further long-term investment in high-speed wireless broadband services.

The government will also consider making wireless broadband services part of the contracts for train operators, so that mobile internet access is available across the rail network. And the report recommends that mobile operators work with London Mayor Boris Johnson to provide broadband mobile access on London Underground in time for the Olympic Games in 2012 ­ an initiative that Transport for London scrapped earlier this year as being too costly.