Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of adults who do not have (a) basic, (b) intermediate and (c) advanced digital literacy.

The government does not produce statistics in the format requested, but Lloyds Bank Consumer Digital Index 2017 showed that 11.5 million people lacked at least one of the five basic digital skills. This is down 1.1 million since 2015. We have announced full funding for basic digital training for adults from 2020.

As our economy changes, it is becoming increasingly important that people are able to upskill and reskill throughout their career. The government will be introducing a National Retraining Scheme, which will be an ambitious, far-reaching programme to drive adult learning and retraining, and digital skills will be one the Scheme’s early focuses. As part of the Scheme, the government will invest £30 million to test the use of Artificial Intelligence and innovative Education Technology in online digital skills courses so that learners can access the training they need to work with and alongside new technologies.

In order to create the next generation of digital specialists, the government supports the new Institute of Coding. A consortium of 60 universities, businesses and industry experts will receive £20 million of government funding to help graduates access the skills employers need, in fields from cybersecurity to artificial intelligence to industrial design. We are also implementing the recommendations from the Shadbolt Review of Computer Sciences Degree Accreditation and Graduate Employability. Additionally, Ada, the National College for Digital Skills, intends to deliver high quality digital skills training to up to 5,000 learners in its first seven years.