The digital divide is stopping many people from exploring new learning opportunities and harming their long-term life chances, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said today at the first UK conference on equality in the digital age.

Ian Kearns, the associate director of the IPPR, Downing Street's favoured thinktank, said: "Progress has been made in this area, but it is still the case that access to IT equipment and the internet is far more prevalent among the wealthy than it is among poorer sections of society."

He also said that the gap affected already excluded groups: "As a country we are also missing many possibilities to use new technology to address the needs of specific groups such as older people or the disabled. The government cannot afford to be complacent on this issue."

But the junior minister for young people and adult skills, Ivan Lewis, said: "The government has made a significant commitment to developing ICT access, with £396m invested in UK online centres since 1999 and over £300m in learndirect."

Speaking at the conference, Mr Lewis said that these initiatives were reaching the people who were the most excluded: "Nearly three quarters of centre users had previously not used the internet due to lack of access or skills, and over 60% were from socially excluded groups."

The conference follows on from the first UN summit to discuss the technology gap between rich and poor nations. The global forum held in Geneva last week produced what has been called the first constitution for the information age, declaring more than half the world's population should have access to some form of electronic media by 2015.