Our response to the Digital Strategy

The government’s new Digital Strategy provides an important focus on innovation and supporting new digital start-ups and business growth. Design Council welcomes the emphasis on the design principle of putting users first when designing and delivering services. 

The Digital Strategy provides a welcome focus on supporting new digital business start-ups and helping all businesses benefit from the opportunities that digital provides. The digital sector is worth seven per cent of the UK economy and digital design is an important part of this.  It is crucial that all parts of the country are able to learn from the experiences of existing digital hubs and that the right conditions are in place to support new and emerging digital clusters.

It is crucial that all parts of the country are able to learn from the experiences of existing digital hubs and that the right conditions are in place to support new and emerging digital clusters.

The Digital Strategy rightly recognises the importance of skills, including ensuring that everyone in the country has the basic digital skills needed to access information and services online, so that we do not create a new form of social exclusion, with its own problems, for tomorrow.  It is vital that local employers can find people with the skills they need in the local job market.  This means schools and colleges providing young people with the necessary skills training for today’s digital economy.  It also means upskilling people to respond to the opportunities of a modern digital age.

“Digital offers fantastic potential to create jobs and economic growth, to transform services and the places where we live, improving our everyday lives”,  Sally Benton, Design Council's Director of Policy & Research, said today. “The Digital Strategy, alongside the recent Industrial Strategy, is an important step in supporting areas across the UK to achieve this”, she added.

Digital offers fantastic potential to create jobs and economic growth, to transform services and the places where we live. The Digital Strategy, alongside the recent Industrial Strategy, is an important step in supporting areas across the UK to achieve this.

Sally Benton, Design Council

The Digital Strategy sets out plans to continue to put users at the heart of government services delivered online.  Digital also plays an important role - and provides important opportunities – for transforming the way we use wider public services, and how they are provided. 

Speaking on public services, Ellie Runcie, our Director of Growth & Innovation, said: “More and more, public service providers – local councils, the police, NHS and others – are coming together to look at different ways that they can deliver the services that we rely on. We know from our Design in the Public Sector programme that by working together, with people at the centre, they can deliver services more efficiently, with improved outcomes and greater value for local taxpayers."

Ellie continued: "Today’s announcement is a welcome step-change in support of public service transformation.  We hope government will continue to encourage innovation in the delivery of services by ensuring that not only local service providers, but also businesses and future innovators have the skills and support needed to transform services and develop products that make a difference to people’s lives.”