The Scottish Government has published its updated National Digital Strategy, a blueprint for delivering sustainable digital public services within the next two years, in the name of making today’s outdated services “smarter, faster, and fairer”.

As part of that roadmap, the government has released a detailed delivery plan, outlining the specific actions it plans to take up to 2028 in pursuit of this nation-scale digital transformation, as well as the innovation and collaboration required to make it happen.

“By placing efficiency, high-quality customer service, and prevention at the core, where people have the confidence that public money is spent wisely and with clarity on how well services are performing, we can transform how our nation delivers public services and achieve better outcomes for everyone,” says the plan.

A worthy and ambitious goal, but what will it mean in practice?

Getting a Handle on Digital Spending

First up, the government intends to better coordinate existing public services, moving away from fragmented approaches to establish the bedrock on which it can build a system-wide digital model.

To that end, the government is already exploring whether a single centralised budget for digital projects would be beneficial. 

But, right now, these services and their budgets are spread across local authorities, meaning the government faces the unenviable task of wrangling all thirty-two Scottish councils, which it will undertake using a new assessment tool.

This tool will allow councils to benchmark their progress, identify strengths and areas for improvement, as well as prioritise targeted actions, and assess their capacity to drive forward digital projects.

To track progress, each council will be required to provide annual digital maturity reports, integrating their findings into improvement plans that outline investment strategies for developing the skills, technology and structural changes needed to deliver high-quality, secure digital services at a local level.

Finding Scalable Solutions

By 2028, working alongside local authorities, the government plans to create a central public sector register of “common solutions and components” to act as a definitive source of information on reusable digital solutions in the public sector. 

This will provide public bodies insight into what is available to them, how these solutions work, and how they might tailor them to their own needs, and include a catalogue of services, components, architecture, and terms of use, promoted on joint platforms like Once for Scotland.

The reuse of common platforms is a key part of the digital strategy, with the government saying it will work to fashion a suite of components across the public sector, such as the ScotAccount and ScotPayments platforms, to make for smoother user journeys.

The plan also outlines the government’s work to create an app that will let users access personalised services on their device, described as “just like” banking and shopping apps, as well as the creation of a new mailbox service, a digital licensing platform, and planning services.

The aim of the game is streamlining, not just for users (who can expect smoother digital journeys) but between patchy services at local and national levels.

Opening Up National Data

The central concept of reuse stretches to data, too. By 2028, the government said it will have a “smart cataloguing” system in place, allowing public sector organisations to safely share each other’s data, a capability that will be built out via two cohorts of the Data Maturity Programme.

This will also see councils able to share the burden of back-office solutions (streamlining at work again), use common digital architecture, and reduce technology overheads, all backed by new governance requirements designed to help local bodies develop frameworks and policies for secure data use.

More exciting, however, are the plans to open up national earth observation data, with the government saying that following complete nationwide LiDAR capture by 2027, it will launch a platform to host and share EO data with a suite of analysis-ready products.

Accelerating Digital Innovation

Sitting right at the heart of the government’s digital strategy is a desire to push the boundaries of AI to benefit the nation.

To name just a few of the AI-driven solutions being considered are predictive analytics for healthcare, smart infrastructure management, and personalised education programmes, with the plan being that, within two years, the public sector will be prepared to navigate the opportunities brought by advanced technology.

Future success, however, hinges on growing AI skills and capacity across Scotland’s public sector workforce, with the first step being the creation of a policy statement on the ethical use of AI, set to be developed next year, followed by wider policy and strategy frameworks. 

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Aside from AI, the delivery of IoT tech will form a major strand of Scotland’s digital strategy. That will include the deployment of smart energy management systems across council properties, and the use of IoT devices in health and care services, backed by evidence-based investment. 

As for a more concrete goal, the government also announced it will invest up to £16 million to develop solutions to around twenty-four CivTech challenges, hopefully creating new companies (and jobs) that will keep the economy ticking. 

Building Cyber Resilience

Earlier this month, the government produced its refreshed cyber resilience strategy, but with this national delivery plan, we’re finally seeing the nitty-gritty that will back it up.

By 2028, the government expects to be conducting regular cybersecurity exercises across the public sector, including across all local authorities, that will test organisational responses against a range of incidents, and will have implemented sector-specific action plans that coordinate leadership and governance across national and local levels.

The plan also calls for greater sharing of threat intelligence and incident response protocols around current and emerging security issues, along with investment in workforce development, including training and professional standards. 

Within two years, the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre (SC3) will have completed delivery of the SC3 Strategic Plan, providing incident response support and coordination for major incidents, while its Cyber Observatory will act as a central portal for public bodies to engage with SC3 services. 

The aim here is for cyber resilience to enter mainstream business continuity and planning processes, with the government doing what it can to future-proof the country against inevitable attack.

While fairly all-encompassing, as a live strategy, the government stressed that its delivery plan is subject to change as time goes on, but committed to annual progress reports, though how this might look after next year’s Scottish elections is up for debate.