Martha Lane Fox joins government in digital champion role

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 12-Jun-09, 09:10

LONDON - The government has reportedly appointed Lastminute.com co-founder Martha Lane Fox as its digital inclusion champion to boost the use of technology across the UK.

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The appointment has not yet been officially confirmed but according to a number of reports, Lane Fox has accepted the position and was introduced to a small audience of senior civil servants, representatives from the UK Digital Task Force and charities Age Concern and Help The Aged at a meeting in central London on Monday.

She will be tasked with driving digital inclusion issues into the public eye and will work with all sections of society to identify evidence of emerging issues.

The aim is to get the 17m people in the UK who do not have access to the internet, online

The reports of Lane Fox taking the role coincide with news out today about communications minister Lord Carter's planned return to the private sector after the publication of his Digital Britain report in July.

Seen as a digital pioneer, Lane Fox co-founded travel website Lastminute.com with Brent Hoberman in 1998. She stepped down as managing director in 2003 but remains a non-executive director at the company.

In 2004, she sold 2m of her Lastminute.com shares for £4.6m.

Lane Fox also set up private karaoke company Lucky Voice in 2005, and is a board member of Channel 4 and non-executive director of Marks & Spencer.