Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what estimate she has made of the number of people who are considered digitally excluded in (a) the South West and (b) the UK.

We know that digital exclusion is a complex issue and the evidence base is significant but fragmented. Ofcom data from 2025 reports that 5% of households in the UK do not have access to the internet and that, in the South West of England, 7% of the population do not use the internet. That is why we launched the Digital Inclusion Action Plan in February of this year, which sets out the first five actions we are taking to boost digital inclusion in every corner of the UK, including the South West of England.

One of these actions was to develop robust headline indicators to monitor progress and inform future digital inclusion interventions. We will evaluate the outcomes of these actions as our understanding of best practice evolves.