Letter of appointment to Martha Lane Fox
A letter from Prime Minister David Cameron to Martha Lane Fox, appointing her as the UK Digital Champion.
Dear Martha,
As you know, the Government is committed to increasing transparency and accountability through making information systematically available online. We also want to improve the convenience and efficiency of public services by driving online delivery. Furthermore, we believe that digital engagement can be a significant contributor to our ambition to build a Big Society where people are more engaged with their local neighbourhoods.
To make this happen, we need to encourage more people to go online and hence be able to access public information and services. In addition to the many benefits to people themselves - including making connections with other people, consumer savings, increased employability, and access to public services - this will also help us to drive down the cost of delivering public services.
I would very much like you to take on the role of UK Digital Champion, to advise and challenge Government, the wider public sector and industry on where and how we can make greater, faster progress to get people online and to deliver these benefits.
Within this role, we would like you to focus on three key areas:
- Contributing to the Government’s work on behavioural change - with a specific remit to build on the Race Online 2012 campaign you have launched to encourage as many people as possible to get online in the lifetime of this Parliament. In this, you will work closely with Nat Wei, the Government’s adviser on the Big Society.
- Advising Government on how efficiencies can best be realised through the online delivery of public services. This will be achieved through oversight of departmental plans to put key public services online, including their radical redesign where this will enable more efficient online delivery; driving the transformation and redirection of Directgov; and rationalising the various streams of work across government on digital inclusion and participation in order to ensure that our resources make the greatest possible impact.
I have asked the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, to take the lead in driving the transparency agenda across government, and, with the Chief Secretary, Danny Alexander, to lead the Government’s Efficiency and Reform programme. He also has responsibility for leading the Government’s work on building the Big Society. All of these streams of activity are relevant to your role as UK Digital Champion and I would like you to work closely with him in taking this work forward. In addition, as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt has a wider responsibility for digital issues such as Universal Broadband, and I would also like you to work closely with him.
I look forward to seeing you and to meeting some of your industry partners and Taskforce members at No 10 in July at a reception to launch Race Online 2012’s annual report, ‘Manifesto for a Networked Nation’.
David Cameron
Prime Minister