Open Government action plan 2021 to 2025 - commitment 1: fiscal openness and transparency
Overview of the fiscal openness and transparency commitment, including milestones and their co-creation process, alongside progress reports submitted throughout the action plan.
Part of
Progress to September 2025
Commitment 1: fiscal openness and transparency
Aim
Benchmarking our fiscal openness and transparency.
Objective
Establish an approach to assess progress of fiscal openness and transparency, moving towards international best practices of transparency and data standards.
Milestones
Refine our IMF Fiscal Transparency Code benchmarked assessment, building on the SHRC’s Open Budget Index assessment to be published in spring 2024, and in consultation with Fiscal Openness and Transparency Commitment Group and external fiscal experts.
Review progress and practical application of benchmarking to design effective future approach.
Progress
No further progress since our June update.
Next steps
We intend to continue to use the benchmarking insights to identify and to structure improvements that can be applied to future Budgets and other fiscal publications.
Status
Behind schedule.
Aim
Improving the accessibility of our fiscal data and information.
Objective
Implement the Fiscal Transparency Discovery Report recommendations to improve the quality, coverage, presentation and standards of current fiscal data.
Milestones
By end Q1 2024 deliver a fully functional (internal) minimum viable product Beta solution for the structuring, standardising and visualising of Scottish budget data.
Subject to resource, by summer 2024 begin development of a live service, including a public facing fiscal portal.
Subject to resource by autumn 2024 begin user testing and design engagement with the public and external stakeholders.
Subject to resource, by end Q1 2025 launch live service and public portal.
Progress
Further development of a fiscal portal remains paused, until our internal technical systems and resource capabilities are able to support the design, development and deployment of this type of platform in a cost-effective way.
Next steps
We intend to use what we have learned from our work on the fiscal portal to look at ways we can improve the financial data we publish, making it make more accessible and re-usable.
Status
Incomplete.
Aim
Improving the accessibility of our fiscal data and information.
Objective
Deliver a procurement management information platform to improve data standards, demonstrate the impact of public sector procurement on Scotland's economy – identifying opportunities to maximise delivery of outcomes at a local and national level.
Milestones
Sign-off Proof of Concept by end of Q1 2024 and completed the Beta phase of the MI Platform which will include a range of data extracts to support and deliver more concise and informative data across SG procurement landscape.
By end of Q4, roll out the MI Platform to other public bodies (Local Authorities, Central Government, Higher Education/Further Education and National Health Service) to identify new sources of data and further data collection which will provide greater information on the impact of public sector procurement.
Continue to roll-out the MI Platform across public sector.
Continue to identify new data sources to enhance and enrich public sector management information.
Ability to report on Scope 3 emissions.
Progress
Management Information Platform Scotland is a national programme and will continue to support, deliver and enhance the wide range of procurement management information needs both for Scottish Government and wider public sector. We will pursue a longer-term vision to broaden the reach of our service across the Scottish public sector, ensuring it delivers richer and more meaningful data to inform and shape the future procurement landscape.
Next steps
We will look to identify and integrate new data sources, strengthening our ability to evidence the wider impact of procurement on Scotland’s economy, supporting better decision-making, greater transparency, and improved outcomes for the public sector and the nation as a whole.
Status
On schedule.
Aim
Improving the accessibility of our fiscal data and information.
Objective
Continue to improve the transparency around the Scottish Budget, reviewing the accessibility and usability of existing and future information and guidance.
Milestones
Through our lessons learned exercise from the 2024-25 Budget and through the SHRC Open Budget Survey, we will identify improvement proposals to be implemented for the 2025-26 Scottish Budget and longer-term improvements to consider from the 2026-27 Scottish Budget onwards.
We will develop the improvement work further to implement additional improvements as part of the 2026-27 Scottish Budget.
Progress
Work is underway for the 2026 to 2027 Scottish Budget, to identify whether there is scope to potentially baseline any further budgets which are regularly transferred in-year. Planning for the 2026 to 2027 Scottish Budget and the accompanying fiscal publications is now underway.
Next steps
Building on progress in previous years, the 2026 to 2027 Scottish Budget document will clearly sign post the wide range of supporting publications that will be published alongside the new Budget.
Status
On schedule.
Aim
Improving participation and engagement on the public finances.
Objective
Build on previous engagement and best practice to develop a multi-stakeholder approach to the next Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP).
Milestones
Work to support planned Scottish Exchequer engagement events in 2024, to showcase the infrastructure transparency already in place in Scotland, and set out our ambitions for the coming years.
For internal use, consistent with the recommendations from the Infrastructure
Commission for Scotland. This will in turn inform the next Infrastructure Investment
Plan and therefore will be overseen by the Infrastructure Investment Board. The Fiscal Openness and Transparency Commitment Group will be provided with biannual updates for information.
Continue work with Scottish Futures Trust to improve the engagement we have planned with the public around infrastructure by testing various engagement options, ahead of development of the next Infrastructure Investment Plan. This will be overseen by the Infrastructure Investment Board. The Fiscal Openness and Transparency Oversight Group will be provided with biannual updates for information.
Progress
We have undertaken an evaluation exercise on the content and use of our current Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) and our approach to the next. This included external feedback from industry experts and scrutiny bodies such as Audit Scotland and the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Findings have been presented to the wider Planning Infrastructure and Place Advisory Group (PIPAG) and we will publish these alongside a draft of the Infrastructure Investment Plan later this year, or early 2026. We will continue to evaluate and refine our approach to the development of the next Infrastructure Investment Plan through external engagement with the PIPAG and internal engagement with the Infrastructure Advisory Group and Infrastructure Investment Board.
Next steps
We will seek wider feedback through a public consultation on the draft IIP which will be undertaken well in advance of the final IIP, due to take effect from 2027 to 2028. We will work with the Scottish Futures Trust to ensure engagement on the draft IIP invites input from a wide range of representatives across industry, academia, the voluntary/third sector, civil society and the general public.
Status
Behind schedule.
Aim
Improving participation & engagement on the public finances.
Objective
Build on previous engagement, striving for a best practice approach to engagement, ensuring that we use our tax powers in a transparent policy making process.
Milestones
By the end of May 2024 engage with the Tax Advisory Group (TAG) and wider stakeholders to develop a draft tax strategy.
Having launched a public consultation on the tax strategy, work with TAG and other stakeholders to help identify seldom heard voices and consider ways to encourage participation.
Engage with citizens and stakeholders before the budget process begins, to better understand knowledge of the tax system and help inform decision making.
By the end of 2024 publish the Tax Strategy. stakeholder and citizen engagement will feature in the Strategy, and will be an area of interest in the analysis of consultation responses. This data may provide insights that can be used to inform both the strategy and future approaches to engagement, including Budget 2025-26.
By September 2025 engage with citizens and stakeholders before the budget process begins, to better understand knowledge of the tax system and help inform decision making.
Progress
In August 2025 we published our Tax Literacy – Communications Best Practice Guide. This is a guide to improving communications on tax and tax policy. It sets out a systematic approach to designing, implementing and evaluating tax communications. It has been adapted from an approach developed by Ernst and Young, who we commissioned to research international best practice in tax communication. Their full research paper has also been published and is available here. Having published our Best Practice guide, we will identify small-scale projects to test the approach, working with stakeholders. We expect to publish an update on these alongside wider updates on our Tax Strategy in 2026.
On 10 September 2025, we hosted our first Scottish Government Tax Conference. This event brought together a diverse range of stakeholders to discuss various topical tax issues, including council tax reform and wealth taxation. Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament were also in attendance and presented their views on tax and spending priorities to delegates.
Next steps
Plans are underway for our pre-budget engagement on tax, with ministerial roundtables planned for October. YouGov have begun fieldwork on our annual survey and results will be published alongside the Scottish Budget.
We will continue to evaluate and refine our approach to wider stakeholder engagement, as per our commitment in the Tax Strategy.
Status
On schedule.