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<p>To equip people better to use digital tools and to adapt to the social distancing
measures of COVID-19, the government launched The Skills Toolkit in April 2020. This
offers a wide-range of digital and numeracy courses for all skills levels.</p><p>Courses
are available for free to the public, offering an opportunity for individuals to upskill
and build on their CV. Everything from ‘everyday maths’ to an introductory 70 hour
course on coding. We want to significantly grow the range of the courses on offer
and will therefore be launching an expanded platform shortly.</p><p>From August 2020,
we have introduced a new digital entitlement that will enable adults with no or low
digital skills to undertake new improved digital qualifications free of charge. These
entitlements are based on new national standards, which set out the digital skills
that people need in life and in work.</p><p>We are also providing £2.5 billion, over
the course of this Parliament, for the National Skills Fund to help adults learn valuable
skills and prepare for the economy of the future.</p><p>The government is also supporting
the Digital Boost platform, which provides digital support for small businesses and
charities in the UK that have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. The platform is
building a community of skilled digital expert volunteers, who are providing one-to-one
support to small businesses and charities free of charge to help them improve their
digital capability, build sustainable incomes through digital channels, reach more
customers online and stay competitive during the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond.</p><p>The
government has launched Local Digital Skills Partnerships (Local DSPs) in 7 regions
across England to bring together cross-sector regional and national partners to work
collaboratively to tackle regional skills gaps. These have been supporting regional
economic recovery, for example, working closely with Growth Hubs to understand the
challenges businesses and individuals are facing and collating useful resources to
support people around digital during this time.</p>
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