Digital Front Door Programme queries: FOI release

Information requested

1). Which specific agencies, Health Boards, Innovation Centres and Government departments across Scotland have provided design and delivery support using public funding into the Digital Front Door programme and earlier forms of this programme (such as the NHS Scotland app) for the years from 2021/22 to 2024/25 inclusive? Please provide a breakdown by partner/contributor.

2). How much funding (total) has been provided to private, commercial and industry partners (split by ‘based in Scotland’ and ‘outside of Scotland’) to date in the design and delivery of the Digital Front Door programme and earlier forms of this programme over the years from 2021 to 2024/25 inclusive?

3). How much public money has been spent in total to date over the years from 2021/22 to 2024/25 inclusive on the Digital Front Door Programme and earlier forms of this programme (such as the NHS Scotland app)? Please provide a breakdown by year.

4). How much additional money is the Scottish Government currently budgeting to complete the delivery of the Digital Front Door programme over the next five years to 2030? Please provide a breakdown by year and include a split between funding to be provided to public versus private partners.

5). Please confirm if the Scottish Government are aware of any Scottish based industry partners/innovators already providing technology with similar features and benefits to the aspirations of the Digital Front Door Programme, such as multi-directional digital communications, shared care record system, interoperability between multiple services in health and community care settings.

6). Please provide a summary of the annual estimated benefits (in terms of patients outcomes, cost efficiency savings, and economic gain) that has currently been modelled by the Scottish Government in the support of the roll out of the Digital Front Door Programme. Please include the annual anticipated cost of servicing and running the Digital Front Door technology and applications to the Scottish population.

Response

In responding to your questions, we note in a number of places you ask about the ‘Digital Front Door programme and earlier forms of this programme (such as the NHS Scotland app)’. To clarify, there has only ever been the Digital Front Door programme which has been running since 2021 – there was no earlier form of this programme. The ‘app’, which was announced earlier this year, is a health & social care app that is being developed as part of the Digital Front Door Programme. With that context in mind, our answers to each of your questions are below.

1). The only organisation that has been specifically funded by the Scottish Government to provide design and delivery support for the Digital Front Door programme is NHS Education Scotland (NES), who have been commissioned to lead on the development of the Digital Front Door. Other organisations have contributed insights and advice from their own work, such as the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI), NHS 24 and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (as well as organisations outwith Scotland, such as NHS England) but no specific funding was provided to them in support of the programme.

2). Design considerations were also provided through engagement with a broad range of representative organisations whilst developing the first iteration of the Equalities Impact Assessment (EQIA) which we published on our website - DfD-EQIA_Underpinning-Evidence_23-August-23.pdf, and insights were taken from the co-design work on information sharing and information access carried out for the development of the National Care Service (see Supporting documents - National Care Service - information sharing to improve care support: regional forums - findings summary - gov.scot and National Care Service - information sharing to improve care support: seldom heard voices co-design findings - gov.scot).

Neither of these activities required dedicated Digital Front Door programme funding as they utilised existing civil service staff.

3). In relation to the three questions you have asked related to finance, as indicated above the Scottish Government has to date provided funding to NES only for the programme as a whole. The majority of costs incurred by NES to date have been on mobilising the team required and developing the Outline Business Case. Scottish Government has also awarded no contracts associated with this work, although NES, as the delivery partner, did spend £210,000 from their allocated budget on a contract to develop the Outline Business Case and further contracts will be awarded by NES as they move into this delivery phase.

The Scottish Government has provided NES with the following funding for the Digital Front Door Programme:

Financial Year	DFD spend £m
2021/22	0.75
2022/23	2.0
2023/24	1.5
2024/25	1.4
Total	5.650

The DFD programme has also benefited from being one of a number of use cases in the £1.3m Civtech Challenge 9.8 during 2024/25. NHS NES staff have participated in the Civtech Challenge on secure communication channels, which has allowed NES to understand what is required to develop the DFD app in a way that integrates into Scottish Government plans to digitise postal communications.

However, this funding was not provided for DFD specifically and it is therefore not part of the overall funding for DFD. More information about this can be found at: CivTech Challenge 9.8 — Secure individualised and effective communications channel — CivTech.

4). The bulk of development costs on the app specifically will be incurred from 2025/26 onwards, as part of the indicative programme budget for 2025/26 set at £12 million. The Scottish Government and NES are currently in the development stage of the full business case for DFD, therefore we do not yet have an agreed longer-term budget. Once it has been approved and a minimum viable product (MVP) has been produced this will inform future costs of a national roll out for Digital Front Door.

5). The Scottish Government are aware of the wide range of suppliers, as well as the important work they do to support health and care in Scotland. The Scottish Government also recognises the importance of our continuous engagement with industry, which is reflected throughout our strategies as well as the official Digital Health and Care website. You can find out more information on these via the following links:

1. Delivery Plan 2024-25 - Digital Healthcare Scotland
2. Digital health and care strategy - gov.scot
3. Health and social care: data strategy - gov.scot

Whilst various organisations have sought to engage, it is mandatory for all potential suppliers to follow the formal guidance which we continue to refer to. All opportunities to work with Scottish Government supplying products and services are also available via various procurement frameworks and contract opportunities published on Publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk. Those who wish to supply public bodies can find out about the procurement process here:

• Supplier Journey
• Public Contracts Scotland
• Procurement - digital technology and cyber services: dynamic purchasing system - gov.scot

6). As the Digital Front Door programme is still in the early stages of development, estimated cost savings are still to be finalised, and the MVP as mentioned above will help to inform these. The Full Business Case is in development which will quantify the benefits as well as the expected return on investment and inform the roll out plan as per our commitment in the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan (see NHS Scotland operational improvement plan - gov.scot).

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.