Martha Lane Fox has resigned from her role as the government’s digital champion.
The Lastminute.com co-founder took up the role in 2010, with the aim of improving the delivery of public services online as well as encouraging more people to use the internet.
It’s not clear why she’s standing down, but in her resignation letter (PDF), she says she will remain a “critical friend” of the prime minister from her seat in the House of Lords. Baroness Lane Fox of Soho became a cross-bench peer earlier this year.
She cites her own achievements as assisting in the creation of Directgov, the single gateway for all the government’s online services; the Race Online 2012 campaign, which she claims helped “millions more people” on to the internet; and inspiring the creation of other digital champion roles across Europe.
Official statistics certainly back up Lane Fox’s claim about digital inclusion. In 2010, 30.1 million Britons used the internet every day, according to the Office For National Statistics, rising to 36 million adults this year, although how many of those can be attributed to Race Online 2012 is unclear.
The prime minister paid tribute to Lane Fox, saying that she helped establish a “digital culture at the heart of government”.
She will continue to work as the chair of Go ON UK, the successor to Race Online 2012, which is focusing on improving Britons’ digital skills.
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