- Area:
- North West England
- Release date:
- 13 3 2012
The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) is announcing today that it is earmarking £100,000 to get more people in Liverpool online.
At the moment only 40% of people in Liverpool have broadband in their home. The national average is 70%. (Office of National Statistics Household Survey)
The number of adults in Liverpool who have never used the internet was 104,000 in June 2011 (a quarter of the 400,000 population). Following Race Online’s ‘Go On It’s Liverpool’ campaign, more than 1,000 local digital champions and 80 partners have helped to reduce this figure to 84,000 by December 2011. This represented a 6% increase, compared to a 1% increase nationally over the same period.
While this is very encouraging, affordable access to the internet in Liverpool still remains a challenge. There are only two free WiFi access points in the city including Toxteth Library which received £1,298,717 from BIG’s Community Libraries programme to redesign the library and establish a community learning and information hub. This funding included IT training with the latest computer technology to access the internet, email and word processing.
In August 2011 Daisy Inclusive UK in Liverpool received £10,000 from BIG’s Awards for All programme to establish an IT suite with specialist equipment to accommodate people with sensory and physical disabilities. With this specialist equipment, Daisy delivers ICT training and provides free access to adapted computer technology for a range of skill development opportunities.
BIG wants to invest funding into Liverpool through grants of between £300 to £10,000 to train more digital champions and create community IT hubs. A total of £100,000 will be earmarked for communities to apply. BIG will be holding up to four events across Liverpool in May and June aimed at voluntary, charity groups, schools and residents associations who can support other groups to access the funding.
Big Lottery Fund Chief Executive Peter Wanless will be speaking about the funding at tonight’s ‘Go On It’s Liverpool’ Celebration and Awards event at the Museum of Liverpool, an official fringe event of the Global Congress on Entrepreneurship.
He said: “The Internet can make life much easier, cheaper and fun. Once online, people can shop around for cheaper utility bills, keep in touch with loved ones and even find out about and apply for jobs. This campaign is already having a fantastic impact but there is still work to do. ‘Go on Liverpool’ apply for this funding and help lead the digital revolution.”
Race Online is a national campaign to help millions of people benefit from internet access. The Go On It’s Liverpool campaign is helping more people in Liverpool get online. This is part of the Big Lottery Fund’s commitment to People Powered Change.
Martha Lane Fox, the UK Digital Champion and Race Online campaign founder, said: “I'm delighted that Go On It's Liverpool has got off to such a great start. Reducing the number of people who have never been on the internet by 20,000 in just six months demonstrates that a network of local and active digital champions can achieve rapid change and make a positive impact on people’s lives. I'm delighted that the Big Lottery Fund is supporting the network to thrive and develop.”
For more information email events.nw@biglotteryfund.org.uk or call 0161 2614600.
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund
Notes to Editors
- People Powered Change is a platform to build, accelerate and extend new and different approaches to develop great community-led action already underway across England. BIG will provide support, information and tools to release the talents of individuals and community groups, to improve and strengthen their neighbourhoods.
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
- The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £27 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment
Tags