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The first time Kalpana went to Skills Enterprise 鈥� a digital training hub run out of a community centre in Newham, East London 鈥� she hadn鈥檛 used a laptop before.

That made finding a job pretty difficult.

She鈥檇 been out of work for some time, and had never browsed a job site, uploaded a CV or sent a professional email.

After weekly training, Kalpana has gradually grown in confidence using the internet to find work.

And she鈥檚 been given her own laptop.

It鈥檚 become an asset for the whole family 鈥� a means to help her son do homework or pick GCSE options.

In her words, the help she received in Newham 鈥渃hanged everything鈥�.

There are 1.6 million people in the UK who, like Kalpana did, live largely offline.

It鈥檚 a kind of exclusion that鈥檚 hard to spot.

If you don鈥檛 live exiled from the digital world, how do you understand what it looks like?

It looks like a family of 5 sharing one laptop, judging whose homework is most important that night.

An elderly woman who can鈥檛 apply for a disabled parking permit, because she鈥檚 not given options to do it offline.

A jobseeker in a rural area travelling miles for public WiFi to send off a CV.

Or a young man experiencing homelessness, who uses his phone to find a safe place to stay.

When he runs out of money for data, he faces another night where he hopes to get lucky by sleeping on the bus.

When a laptop plus an internet connection equals a train ticket, a doctor鈥檚 appointment or a conversation with a loved one, not having those things means being locked out of a world of opportunity.

Locked out of life itself.

That鈥檚 a problem for all of us.

We should care about digital exclusion for its own sake 鈥� in the same way society comes together to help people shut out of housing, of work.

But we should also care because we can鈥檛 afford not to.

In a week when you鈥檒l hear a lot about the massive opportunity for economic growth technology brings 鈥� fundamental to our Plan for Change 鈥� we can鈥檛 afford to miss out on the growth we鈥檒l see if we close the digital divide.

For every 拢1 spent on digital skills training, our economy gets 拢9.48 back.

And if everyone in the workforce could do all 20 essential digital tasks, the country could be 拢23 billion better off each year, in Gross Value Added.

A problem for the whole nation, then.

And one the whole nation has a hand in solving.

For too long, this work has been left to the sterling efforts of industry, local government and charities, with central government at worst, absent 鈥� at best, standing on the sidelines calling on businesses to do more.

Well, no longer.

This is the year that government stepped up to play our part.

In February, we published a Digital Inclusion Action Plan.

It鈥檚 the first time a British government has proposed a plan on this since 2014. In that same timespan, Taylor Swift has released 11 albums.

The Plan makes up for lost time, setting out the first 5 actions we鈥檙e taking.

And today I can announce that, next year alone, we鈥檒l back local digital inclusion initiatives with 拢6 million of new funding.

The money will support programmes up and down the country where so much good work is done, including through our Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund.

It could be used to get laptops into schools that kids can take home, so no child falls behind on learning because they don鈥檛 have the tech.

To give councils the power to trial innovative ways of running digital skills training for people anxious about getting online. 聽

Or to build up our evidence base on why digital exclusion happens.

This funding will focus our efforts where they work best: in the communities people live and work in.

To meet this challenge, we鈥檒l also need a concerted national effort on skills.

Keeping up is a lifelong pursuit, as any of us who have ever scratched our heads at a new operating system or helped a parent share a photo can attest to.

Education doesn鈥檛 stop the day you turn 18. Digital education is no different.

On Monday, the PM announced that we鈥檒l partner with industry to give 7.5 million workers essential AI skills by the end of the decade.

So that the AI revolution is one everybody gets to be a part of.

And, as part of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, we鈥檒l give employers targeted support to upskill teams.

We鈥檝e also kicked off a project with the Digital Poverty Alliance to donate refurbished government laptops and phones to people in need.

I hope this scheme inspires more like it.

Because it makes no sense to live in a world where, every day, stacks of old devices are carted off to landfill鈥�

鈥� while 1.5 million people in this country don鈥檛 have a laptop or smartphone.

Soon, I鈥檒l launch an 鈥業T Reuse for Good鈥� charter, alongside Deloitte, Vodafone and the Good Things Foundation 鈥� where businesses can pledge to donate unneeded tech.

I hope many of you will sign up.

This is work happening in the round in government.

The Action Plan is co-signed by 5 Secretaries of State, and a Ministerial Group brings together Health, Education, Work and Pensions and more.

Because digital exclusion hinders people in every facet of life 鈥� dimmer job prospects; shorter life expectancy. So we鈥檝e got to bust the usual silos to fix it.

We must also be guided by those who鈥檝e led on this for years.

Our Digital Inclusion Action Committee 鈥� chaired by Baroness Hilary Armstrong 鈥� has now been appointed, to make sure our work is informed by experts as well as the people we鈥檙e here to help.

I know how many businesses have put a great deal of time and money into this.

Ten companies pledged commitments alongside our Action Plan; I am immensely grateful to them all.

From Virgin Media O2, connecting 1 million excluded people by the end of the year.

To BT, giving free WiFi to families and communities across the country.

I also want to thank everyone offering social tariffs, connecting low-income households to broadband and data that would otherwise be out of reach.

And huge thanks to all of you finding ways to connect the unconnected 鈥� tariffs or tech, skills or speedier connections.

What we鈥檝e done so far is just the start.

We鈥檒l keep pushing ourselves to go further, and I want to see industry go with us:

Partner with local digital inclusion charities.

Sign up to the device donation charter.

Keep investing in your employees鈥� digital learning.

For years at London Tech Week, you鈥檝e heard successive governments talk about the transformative power of technology.

I believe what has to define this government鈥檚 approach is that we鈥檒l make this a transformation that leaves nobody behind.

That makes society more equal, not less.

And that reaps the economic rewards equality brings.

Back in Newham, Kalpana is now a digital skills volunteer.

She鈥檚 gone from being someone who鈥檇 barely used the internet to someone who teaches others to work a smartphone, or set up online banking.

That鈥檚 the return that investing in digital inclusion gives us.

Connecting just one person can connect a family, a workplace, a community.

In the end, we鈥檒l reach the 1.6 million unconnected that way. If we keep at it, together.