A changing nation: how Scotland will thrive in a digital world

Principles of a Digital Nation

Audit Scotland reviewed digital progress in Scottish Government and Local Government in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Collectively, the two reports (“Enabling Digital Government” and “Digital Progress in Local Government”) identified a number of factors and characteristics necessary for true Digital Government. As this strategy is jointly owned by local and national government, we have taken these and adapted them to form principles for a digital nation – applicable to Government, but also to People and Place, and the Economy. These principles form the backbone of this strategy.

Inclusive, Ethical and User Focused

We strive to understand the needs of  people and our communities and involve them in the design of products and services. We focus on the outcomes we want to achieve and design services from a user’s perspective rather than from our organisational perspective. We value and strive to design and deliver products and services that are inclusive, ethical and resilient, and uphold people’s digital rights.

A Skilled Digital Workforce

To develop and sustain a digital future for Scotland, and to ensure no one is left behind, we need to ensure that our young people are equipped with the skills to thrive in the digital world, and ensure that our organisations are planning for the digital roles that they will need in the near and longer term.

Digital Leadership and Culture

We recognise that digitisation can deliver better outcomes for Scotland and adapt our leadership style to champion change, and engage and empower our staff to innovate.

Collaborative

We recognise that digitisation delivers better benefits when we collaborate. This means collaborating at a community, local, regional and national level, and collaborating across the public, private, voluntary, and academic sectors.

Data-Driven

We value the transformational role that data can play in increasing transparency, empowering communities, transforming products and services, fuelling innovation, and improving outcomes.

Technology-Enabled

We recognise that digitisation is underpinned by technology that is evolving at an exponential rate of change and actively seek opportunities to explore how new and emergent technologies can improve outcomes for Scotland.

Innovative and Sustainable

We understand that digitisation now provides unprecedented opportunities to deliver better outcomes in Scotland and create an environment that allows organisations to openly share challenges and ideas and to co-develop and co-produce innovative solutions to old problems.

Secure by Design

We recognise that there are many threats to the privacy, integrity and availability of digital products and services and build security into digital services by design.