Understanding our role in the local community

When we talk about networks at Virgin Media, it's not all about cables and fibre optic - it stretches much further than that. We've got a network of talented people who care about the communities in which they live and work. And products and services that connect and enrich people's lives. Here's how we're helping to empower communities nationwide.

Overcoming the digital divide

We feel really proud about the way in which our products and services actually help people realise their talents and aspirations. We want to find loads of ways of working with relevant charities, NGOs and businesses to make even more of a difference wherever we can.

However, we're worried that certain social groups are excluded from the digital world - victims of a 'digital divide'. Unfortunately, many young people in deprived areas simply can't afford to use these products while at the other end of the age spectrum, many over 65s struggle to overcome their lack of knowledge to take advantage of the brilliant opportunities that the digital world can provide.

Power to all People

We're starting to build bridges to our products for these disadvantaged groups and are establishing projects and partners that will help us deliver our products, share our people's skills and spread our expertise.

Click here to find out more about our Power to all People programme.

Championing undiscovered film makers

As a Virgin company, we believe in championing undiscovered talent and giving it a leg up in whatever industry that's in. That's why we've teamed up with First Light Movies, an organisation that provides funding and expertise to enable 5 to 19 year olds, throughout the UK, to create short digital films.

This will be the second year we've been involved as we want to make sure the winners and nominees get to show off their talent, and our services provide the perfect platform. With help from FilmFlex, and thanks to our TV On Demand service and the Virgin Media portal, millions of our customers and consumers will be able to view the short films, which otherwise would have ended up gathering dust in an archive. You can see more at: virginmedia.com/firstlightmovies

Other ways to empower through education

There are a number of other education-related initiatives that sit alongside our Power to all People programme and which play an important role in supporting communities across the UK. Our Access Division, for example, recently launched an engineering apprenticeship scheme that will provide 60 young people with the opportunity to pursue a career in Virgin Media.

Making the digital world simple and easy to understand

We've focused on tackling a number of broader issues associated with digital literacy including providing a new handbook, Digital TV Made Simple, accompanied by a video featuring TV actor, Ricky Tomlinson that explains all the 'ins and outs' of the Digital Switchover.

People who care

At Virgin Media, our teams are full of people who are passionate and ready to make a difference - whether it's cycling miles or scaling peaks for the charities we care about. Here are just some of the things they got up to last year:

• 'The Big Ride' - 22 of our employees from all around the business cycled from Glasgow to London, raising £48,000 for Virgin Unite charities.
• Three Peaks Challenge - 19 teams from ntl:Telewest Business raised £29,000 scaling the highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales. 36 teams from across Virgin Media plan to enter this year.

It doesn't stop there. We've created a network of regional charity champions across the whole of our business that's starting to generate structure and focus to our local outreach work. We'll provide direct financial and in-kind support to the local charities our employees nominate and will match any other funds raised by our employees for these charities, pound-for-pound (up to an agreed limit).

On a national level, our pound-for-pound matching extends to any employee raising money for Virgin Unite's partner charities, including Foyer. This will be supported by the introduction of a new volunteering policy that provides a day off annually to everyone wanting to help in the local community, and a payroll giving service that provides a simple and flexible means for all employees to support the charities and organisations that matter to them.

Measuring our effectiveness

We want to make sure that our Power to all People programme is making a meaningful difference. We're working closely with Virgin Unite to ensure that we're maximising the impact of our programmes and forging partnerships that add absolute value to the things we care about. We've also joined the London Benchmarking Group (LBG), an organisation that is helping us generate greater understanding and precision in quantifying the inputs, outputs and impacts of our programme as well as benchmarking ourselves with our peers. This will also help us to deliver greater accuracy and clarity in our future CR reporting and enable us to set ambitious targets and KPIs for 2009.