What if I’m not comfortable with IT?

There are valid reasons you might not be comfortable with IT. You might need a reasonable adjustment to make it accessible to you. (As I said before, this is your right – you are entitled to request it, to expect it to be provided within a sensible timeframe, and to have the cost covered.) Or perhaps you don’t come from an office job, and you’re not used to using IT to manage your work life.

As you’ve probably already discovered on the campaign trail, a lot of your work will inevitably be done via email (or otherwise online). I’m not sure you can be a Deputy and be completely disconnected from tech now. But the kind of things you need to do – handle emails, read papers, make notes – are not technologically complex. If you’re willing to give it the time, you will find that you learn how to do them competently enough before long.

The one thing there’s no excuse for is being a Luddite! You don’t have to actively like tech, or its role in your new life; you just need to put enough effort in to be able to do the core functions of your job to a decent level. Don’t refuse to engage with it – that’s just poor form.

But it’s okay to feel out of your depth, and to ask for help, either from civil servants or from your colleagues. The thing to know about IT is that there is almost always a shortcut. If something is taking too much time or feels really inefficient to you, there’s probably a faster way of doing it, and someone you work with probably knows what it is. Don’t be afraid to ask!