Technology is rightly seen as a solution to the conundrum of getting more for less out of public services. Health secretary Matt Hancock is positively ecstatic about the benefits of online GP appointments and home telecare for the frail elderly. Channel shift is a euphemism for getting residents to access council services online and save on staff time. Being digitally connected also increases employment opportunities, creates jobs in rural areas and enables older people to get more out of their health and care services. The trouble is, as many councillors know from their voters, what happens if a sizeable proportion of the public remain, often by their own choice, digitally excluded?

A report this week from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) puts some figures on this challenge. The digitally excluded tend to be older, disabled and workless.