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Sunderland wins £3m to bridge the social and digital divide

Sunderland was today unveiled as the winner of Communities and Local Government's Digital Challenge competition and will receive £3m to deliver its plans for a digitally enabled community that will benefit some of the most vulnerable and socially excluded people in the area.

Sunderland was today unveiled as the winner of Communities and Local Government's Digital Challenge competition and will receive £3m to deliver its plans for a digitally enabled community that will benefit some of the most vulnerable and socially excluded people in the area. 

As the winner of the Digital Challenge Sunderland is now recognised as an example in how ICT technologies can be used to tackle social exclusion.

Sunderland proposals will see its community benefiting from a number of initiatives such as Community e-Champions working in their local area to help vulnerable people access computer and internet services, helping children at risk of underachieving at Key Stage 3 and an e-mentoring scheme working for children and young people. The bid will also meet the needs of carers and looked after children through a walkie talkie and panic buttons.

The Digital Challenge saw cities, towns and regions outline their visions for a digitally enabled society designed to better meet the needs of local communities and citizens. Since the finalists were announced last year, the ten regional partnerships have been working together and have formed the DC10.

Minister for Local e-Government, Angela Smith, Said:

"Digital Inclusion is about more than new technologies. It is an opportunity to solve problems and improve the lives of people in our communities. As the winner of the Digital Challenge, Sunderland should be seen as an example of how the social and digital divide can be bridged and serve as a blueprint for local partnerships for the future.

"All the finalists have led the way in the UK and should be seen as true regional digital inclusion champions. Together as the new DC10 they will continue to galvanise thinking, unleash creativity and raise the agenda, both locally and nationally."

Communities and Local Government has also launched a new look Digital Challenge and Inclusion Network website at Sunderland and the 'Digital Landscape' document a snapshot of projects pushing the digital agenda across the UK.

With the ten finalists moving from being competitors to collaborators the Digital Challenge is an example of how a cross-Government, cross-sector initiative can flourish. ICT is now firmly embedded as an enabler for social inclusion in the governments Local Government White Paper for the delivery of the Local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships targets, as well as within the Transformation Government agenda and within the Varney Report.

Notes to editors:

The Digital Challenge sets the vision for and takes the next bold and radical steps in creating a digitally enabled society. The Digital Challenge provides a unique incentive for a region, city or similar sized area to drive forward the use of technologies to better meet the needs of its local community and individual citizens. Any local authority, in partnership with other authorities, public sector organisations, industry, intermediaries and the third sector, could take part in the Digital Challenge competition.

Funding for the Digital Challenge winner and on going funding for the DC10 came from, Communities and Local Government £2.75 million, DOH £1m, DTI ££250,000 and DFes £1.5m - in total £5.5 million - Divided into £3.5 for Sunderland and £2 for the continuing work of the DC10.

The ten members of the DC10 are:

• The Virtual District of Stratford-upon-Avon - Stratford on Avon District Council
• City and Rural Communities Using IT - Birmingham City Council (Lead Authority) & Shropshire County Council
• My Norfolk - Norfolk County Council on behalf of the Norfolk Ambition County Strategic Partnership
• Sunderland - Where people matter - Sunderland City Council
• Success Through Diversity Enabled by Digital Innovation - Ealing Council
• Connecting Bristol - Building Momentum for Change - Bristol City Council on behalf of Connecting Bristol and the Momentum Group
• Connected Nottingham - Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County Council
• STREAM - Transforming Neighbourhoods - Kingston Upon Hull City Council
• Digital MK - Milton Keynes Council
• One-Manchester - Manchester City Council, in partnership with Tameside MBC

The DC-10 Group of the ten Digital Challenge finalists will continue to work together with central government and the Digital Challenge winner to progress the use of digital technologies to tackle social exclusion and continue to be exemplars in this field. The participants believe that this will enable a range of collaborative workstreams to be developed to promote digital inclusion across the UK. The workstreams will build on and take forward the thinking already developed in the Digital Challenge bids, enabling the joint capital of this thinking to contribute to the overall Digital and Social Inclusion agendas. With this, the DC10 aim to prove that the  increase in the take-up and use of digital technologies in their respective regions - for example increasing the levels of broadband Internet usage in all sectors of our communities to over 90 per cent by the end of 2010.
  
The work of the DC-10 Group will include the following:

• To exchange knowledge and jointly develop best practice advice based on the key themes identified with central government from our Digital Challenge Bids
• To work with central government to develop centrally funded work programmes to implement individual and joint actions around those key themes
• To promote digital inclusion to support the delivery of Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and their outcomes
• To jointly develop bids to EU and other funding sources, supported by central government
• To identify key issues and lobby central government, national organisations and the EU for solutions to these
• To advise central government, other local authorities and other relevant bodies on best practice in this field - specifically to organise a series of regional events showcasing the work and learning generated by the Digital Challenge
• To participate in presentations and exhibitions on behalf of the DC10 group as agreed.

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