Extending high speed broadband project: children’s rights impact assessment
An assessment on the impact of the high speed broadband project on children's rights.
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Project
The Extending High Speed Broadband Project will use funding clawed back from a Welsh Government funded broadband intervention, Superfast Cymru, to extend access to high-speed broadband to premises that do feature in current commercially or publicly funded rollouts and are not in plans to do so for the next three years.
Policy objective
To provide fast and reliable broadband with superfast download speeds of at least 30Mbps, but with an ambition to deliver 1Gbps, to premises in Wales that cannot receive a superfast service and are not in any roll-out plans in the next three years.
Gathering evidence and engaging with children and young people
The project will benefit those children who live in households that cannot receive a superfast service and are not in any roll-out plans in the next three years. This will predominantly be children how live in rural and remote parts of Wales where roll-out is commercially unviable.
These are also areas where access to other public services such as health and education are also more limited and where remoteness can lead to economic disadvantage.
The development of the Extending High Speed Broadband Project was informed by a range of research with both the telecommunications industry, residents and businesses.
Cwmpas were engaged to carry out research on behalf of the Welsh Government to gather feedback from households, businesses, and premises throughout Wales that are encountering difficulties in accessing satisfactory broadband speeds. Although this did not specifically address children, young people aged 16-25 were represented in the research. The research also highlighted issues specific to children and young people and those common across all age ranges.
The Cwmpas research showed that the lack of reliable broadband has significant implications for daily activities and business operations. It affects various aspects, including accessing critical services, remote working, educational opportunities, and engaging with customers in the tourism sector. Issues identified through the research where poor digital connectivity would impact on children and young people included:
- Inability to use online communication platforms.
- Challenges with video streaming services such as BBC iPlayer and YouTube.
- Limited access to educational materials and missing electronic interactions with schools for parents.
- The lack of reliable broadband has significant implications for daily activities including access to educational opportunities.
- Many responses highlighted the disparities between areas with reliable access and those without, leading to feelings of resentment and frustration as the digital divide became more apparent. Community members recognized the impact this divide had on various aspects, including the retention of younger generations.
Other research also underpinned the need to address digital connectivity including ‘Towards a Welsh Minimum Digital Living Standard: Citizen and Stakeholder perspectives’. The research showed that:
- Unreliable broadband meant that families had difficulty running multiple devices simultaneously and meant that they had to restrict their usage or disconnect devices. Families also reported that they could not access the internet in certain parts of the home.
- Slow internet speeds and frequent disconnection impacted video calls which were important for connecting with friends and family, as well as for meetings for voluntary work or for online learning.
- Unreliable connection was repeatedly raised as an issue for children, especially if the child was on the autism spectrum or had ADHD, for whom being cut off from the ‘safe space’ of watching their programmes or gaming online could cause frustration and anxiety.
Being without broadband could mean having to seek out other ways to get a connection, for example by using the internet at a library after school, to take a child to a relative so they could use the television or travelling to an in-person rather than online appointment.
Analysing the evidence and assessing the impact
Below is an assessment of the project against the articles of the United Nations Convention of the rights of the child.
| UNCRC Articles or Optional Protocol | Enhances (X) | Challenges (X) | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article 13 Children have the right to get and to share information as long as the information is not damaging to them or to others. | X | X | Access to the internet via reliable digital connectivity allows children access to and the ability to share information. However, it can also allow access to information that could be damaging to them. |
| Article 17: Children have the right to reliable information from the mass media | X | X | Access to the internet via reliable digital connectivity allows children access to reliable information from the mass media. It can also allow access to misinformation. |
| Article 28: Children have a right to an education. Discipline in schools should respect children’s human dignity. Primary education should be free. Wealthy countries should help poorer countries achieve this. | X | Access to the internet via reliable digital connectivity allows children access to a wide range of educational resources and to online education for remote areas. | |
| Article 29: Education should develop each child’s personality and talents to the full. It should encourage children to respect their parents, their own and other cultures and the environment. | X | Access to the internet via reliable digital connectivity allows children access to a wide range of educational resources and to online education for remote areas. | |
| Article 31: All children have a right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of activities. | X | Access to the internet via reliable digital connectivity allows children to play online, enjoy other online activities and connect with their friends online. |
The various research findings underpin the need for fast and reliable digital connectivity to support education and learning, to tackle social isolation and to enable the consumption and sharing of information.
This impact assessment will be monitored as the project develops and enters the delivery phase of the project and will be updated as necessary.
The extending high speed broadband project is involved with building digital infrastructure that brings faster more reliable internet access. This does not have any effect on EU Citizen Rights that relate to young people up to the age of 18.
Communicating with children and young people
The Cwmpas research did not specifically address children, young people aged 16-25 were represented in the research. The research also highlighted issues specific to children and young people and those common across all age ranges. There are no plans to specifically inform children and young people of the outcome.
Monitoring and review
The project will be subject to in project monitoring and review and also post project review. The CRIA will be monitored in line with the project monitoring and review processes.