As the government appointed UK Digital Champion, Martha Lane Fox's remit includes advising government how to provide better, more efficient online public services and accelerating efforts to help more people benefit from the power of the internet.
Last year she secured £30m from government to support community-based web access and training and to launch the Race Online 2012 partnership programme. Race Online now has over 700 partners who have made pledges to help more than one-and-a-half million to people get online by the end of the Olympic year. "This is a great start but we can and should do more", she says. "Our manifesto sets out recommendations for how to take the next steps towards making the UK a networked nation where everyone can use the web".
UK online centres is a parallel initiative to provide free courses and support to people who want to get online.
AbilityNet is a national charity helping disabled adults and children use computers and the internet by adapting and adjusting their technology.
iT4Communities is the UK's leading national IT volunteering programme, helping IT professionals to find suitable IT volunteering opportunities
A look back to the Get Digital programme, 2008-2010
The drive to ensure that everyone had the opportunity to get online kicked off under the last Government through its Get Digital programme. One important strand of its work was to support a programme to provide internet access to 20,000 older people in sheltered housing by offering funding and support to 195 retirement estates. EAC worked closely with NIACE and Digital Unite to identify eligible sheltered schemes and help make this happen. By the time the programme ended in March 2011 it had achieved its aims - and the 195 digially advanced retirement locations are flagged on our website.
Below are comments from some of the sheltered schemes that got online through the 'Get Digital' programme successfully:
Doreen Thomas, Lifestyle Coordinator at Testway Housing in Hampshire, one of the first schemes to receive funding, said, “We were delighted to get this grant. Both staff and residents are really excited about the project. A Get Digital tutor has worked with our residents at one of our housing for older people schemes in Romsey. It’s already opened up a whole new world for some of them.
John MacLeod, a housing scheme resident in Romsey, said, "It gets people out of their flats. I've learnt how to email my friend in Mozambique, shop on Amazon and Russell our tutor is brilliant."
Don Turner, another housing scheme resident in Romsey said, “Being that I’ve never touched a computer before, it’s 110% worth doing! It’s really enjoyable. There’s lot of things you can do on a computer that I didn’t know about. Russell the tutor is a lovely man and very patient.”
Below is the full list of sheltered and retirement housing schemes which participated in the GetDigital programme.
Akenside Court, Liverpool
Alan Hilton Court, Ottershaw
Alfred Stocks Court, Liverpool
Alman Court, Liverpool
Alrewych Court, Walsall
Appian Court, London
Ashfords, Buntingford
Ashton Court, London
Barbara Glasgow House, Birmingham
Barringers Court, Nr Wellingborough
Bartlett Court, London
Beech Court, Littleport
Bellamy Court, Southampton
Berkeley Court, Didsbury
Bethany House, Romford
Betty Dodd Court, Luton
Binfold Croft, Carnforth
Blake Court, Andover
Blenheim Court, Carterton
Bob May Court, Swindon
Bradeley Village, Stoke-on-Trent
Britannia Court, Colchester
Britannia Court Gardens, Chichester
Buttington Road, Chepstow
Cathedral Court, Liverpool
Catherine Court, Birmingham
Chandos Court, Leamington Spa
Charles Utton, London
Christopher Taylor House, Liverpool
Churchill Court, Lympstone
Clayton House, Exmouth
Clevedown, Lewes
Clochar Court, London
Collard Court, London
Crawshay Place, Cinderford
Danby Close, Lydney
Daveys Court, London
Defiance Walk, London
Dennis Round Court, Alsager
Digby Lodge, Didsbury
Dora House, London
Downash House & Court, Flimwell
Dr Behr Court, Swindon
Drummond Street, Bolton
Edale Avenue, Huddersfield
Elizabeth Barnes Court, London
Elizabeth Grove, Solihull
Elizabeth Prout Gardens, Warley
Ernest Harriss House, London
Faithfield, Bushey
Finningley Lodge, Sheffield
Five Villages House, Winchelsea
Fleming Court, March
Flockton Court, Bolton
Forresters Road, Tenbury Wells
Gainsborough Court, Southampton
Gale Court, Barton-le-Clay
Gale Farm Court, York
Glebelands, Dursley
Gobles Court, Ryde
Gresley Road, Doncaster
Grounds Court, Boston
Hanover Court, Bristol
Harling Court, Ledbury
Harrison Court, Colchester
Harry Stanley House, Coventry
Harvey Longworth Court, Rossendale
Hawthorn Court, Bristol
Hayden Piper House, London
Heath View, Congleton
Henry Smith House, Daventry
Highfield House, Farnworth
Hollowell Court, Wellingborough
Homecolne House, Cromer
Hulton Lane, Bolton
Iveson Lodge, Hull
James Hill House, London
Jenkins Crag Court, Kendal
Jill Jenkins Court, Luton
John James Court, Bristol
Johnson House, Alnwick
Jubilee House, Bolton
Kashmir Court, Ravensthorpe
Kinsey Road, Sheffield
Knightstone House, Bristol
Leach Court, Brighton
Leander Court, London
Lightley Court, Sandbach
Linden House, Sevenoaks
Lindenlea Court, London
Lord Cornwallis Court, Folkestone
Loxley, Peterborough
Mais House, London
Manor Close, Great Yarmouth
Manor Court, Caddington
Manors, Witham
Margaret Crescent, Thorpe St Andrew
Markham Place, Swindon
Marston Court, Stafford
Martin Court, Peterborough
Mason House, Leeds
Maya Angelou Court, London
McGovern Court, Stevenage
Middi Haines Court, Swindon
Middleton Court, Bridlington
Millspring Court, Bootle
Milton Court, Nottingham
Miners Court, Redruth
Mitchell House, Seaford
Mitchell House and Close, Cheadle
Moorside Court, North Hykeham
Mosque Tower, London
Mount View Lodge, Sheffield
Mountbatten Pavillion, Maidstone
Napier Place, Peterborough
Nellie Gormley House, Newcastle upon Tyne
New Larchwood, Brighton
Norman House, Sutton
Northfields, Leeds
Norton Court, Greens Norton
Oak Tree Court, Huntingdon
Oakroyd House, Dunmow
Oakwood & Old Park Close, Haywards Heath
O'Grady Court, London
Palgrave House, Norwich
Patching Lodge, Brighton
Pavilion Lodge, Manchester
Peacock Close, Hornchurch
Penyard Gardens, Ross-on-Wyre
Peter Furkins Court, Swindon
Phillimore Court, Radlett
Phoenix Court, Gainsborough
Pleasant View, Southampton
Portland House, Stockport
Purcell House, Kidderminster
Quinion Close, Whittlesey
Rainford Road, Billinge
Ralph Jessop Court, Parkstone
Raynsford House, Northampton
Rowan Lodge, Hull
Royce Court, Knutsford
Ryegrass, Woodstock
Sandringham Court, Weston-super-Mare
Sankey Manor, Warrington
Saxon House, Northampton
Scampton Lodge, Sheffield
Shakespeare Road, Stafford
Sidney Miller Court, London
Sim Court House, Penrith
Slade Road, Portishead
Spring Court, London
St Andrews Court, Altrincham
St Clements Court, Broadstairs
St James Court, Congleton
St Thomas of Canterbury Court, Mayfield
Sudbury Court, Peterborough
Suffolk Court, London
Summer Field Court, Stone
Sunnyside, Middlesbrough
Surrey Court, Eastleigh
The Bury, Codicote
The Gardens, Henlow
The London, Ryde
The Orchards, Bristol
The Willows, Poulton le Fylde
Thea & Heinz Skyte House, Leeds
Thomas Hardy Court, Tamworth
Thomas House, Sutton
Trapwood Close, St. Helens
Trelawney Court, Camborne
Tudor Rose Court, London
Tullock Court, Blackpool
Tyndale Court, Bristol
Uplands, Warlingham
Valetta House, Rotherham
Ventura Court, Stockport
Veor House, Camborne
Viking Place, Burnley
Vivian Court, London
Vyeson Court, Ramsgate
Wakeford Court, Romsey
Walkden House, Aston-in-Makerfield
Walkers Way, Finedon
Warwick Court, Daventry
Welton Vale, Radstock
Westhay Court, Nottingham
Westwood Court, Benfleet
Whinn Dale, Wakefield
Whites Close, St Agnes
Wildcroft, Bristol
Wilkinson Court, Liverpool
Will Griffiths, Manchester
William Fiske Court, Stoke-on-Trent
Woodbrooke House, Chelmsley Wood
Woodridge Gardens, Washington
Yeomanry Close, Warwick