Open Government action plan 2021 to 2025: commitment 5 – participation milestone progress

Developing knowledge and skills across Scottish Government

Milestone: delivery of participation handbook training sessions across Scottish Government

Timescales

Beginning autumn 2021.

Where we started

Initial proposed activities focused on developing and delivering participation training for Scottish Government staff.

What changed and why

Since then, the introduction of a participation procurement framework to assist staff with procuring high quality participatory work has led to a change in the staging of activities. Staff training will need to be designed around this procurement framework, as this will be a key resource for staff.

Where we are now

It is proposed that training is finalised and delivered once the procurement framework is in place, which is currently estimated to be in 2025.

Staff capacity has not yet allowed work to commence on addressing intersectional analysis as part of a general training offer.

What activity this will involve

• revise training content to reflect equalities guidance updated in the Participation Handbook

• seek feedback from civil society representatives

• develop a series of training opportunities and launch training offer for Scottish Government officials

• seek ongoing feedback from officials on the Participation Handbook’s content and training

Milestone status

In progress, behind schedule.

Milestone: delivery of in-depth participation training to Scottish Government social researchers

Timescales

Throughout 2024 and 2025.

Where we started

This set of activities proposed a programme of participation and lived experience training for Social Researchers (SRs).

What changed and why

This remains a set of activities we are undertaking as planned.

Where we are now

The Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) delivered an initial training session with Social Researchers in spring 2024. In early 2025, further in-depth training on co-production and Community-Led Action Research was delivered.

What activity this will involve

• in collaboration with SCDC, deliver multi-staged training to a cohort of Social Researchers

• initial general training session undertaken by group of Social Researchers with participatory work in their role or key area of interest

• further stages of in-depth training for group of Social Researchers with capacity and role relevance
• with Participation and Lived Experience working group, reflect on:
  • next steps to support SRs to use training as a basis for peer learning and continuous improvement regarding participation work
  • best approaches to support embedding of participation knowledge across SR profession

Milestone status

In progress, on schedule.

Milestone: monitoring and evaluation of participation work

Timescales

Beginning autumn 2021.

Where we started

This set of activities centred around the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation approach to participation work, using as a basis existing evaluation expertise and training plans within the Social Research Profession - in particular the new Government Social Research (GSR) Evaluation Academy approach.

What changed and why

Current evaluation training has not provided scope for including the evaluation of participation work. To allow for some of the specific features of evaluating participation work – such as participant experience, impact of involvement and change produced – further understanding needs to be developed.

Where we are now

A review of existing approaches to evaluating the impact of participation work and consideration of how these can be applied to the Scottish Government setting took place via a Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS) PhD internship, which commenced in June 2024. This project included consideration of how participation work can be designed in order to maximise its impact. The results of this project have been published and will be used to inform decisions about how a Scottish Government-wide approach to monitoring and evaluation of participation work could be introduced.

It is proposed that key aspects of this work are also integrated into the procurement framework (set out at Milestone 1, Objective 1), as a way to introduce some standardisation to monitoring and evaluation of commissioned participatory work.

What activity this will involve

• reflect on evaluation proposals and SGSSS internship report, and consider options for disseminating an approach across SG

• this will likely be dependent on increased capacity

Milestone status

In progress, behind schedule.

Milestone: development of an Scottish Government-wide procurement framework for participation work

Timescales

Early 2025.

Where we started

In 2023, a Participation Framework Agreement was identified as an activity which could have a significant impact on the quality of participation work being commissioned by Scottish Government, while also increasing knowledge and skill levels across staff. The Scottish Government Children’s Rights Unit had earlier begun the development of a Participation Framework Agreement for work commissioned with children and young people. This provided a template and demonstration of benefits for a comparable Framework Agreement with adults.

What changed and why

This remains a set of activities we are undertaking.

Following external engagement with stakeholders over summer 2024, the Scottish Government revised its approach and adopted a new route to market to address feedback raised from external and internal stakeholders on the proposed use of a Framework Agreement.

Scottish Government will use a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS). This is similar to a Framework Agreement as it will still provide a list of quality-assured suppliers, organised into ‘lots’ according to their specialisms, who will be the primary route to market for Scottish Government officials looking to commission participatory work. A DPS differs from the previously proposed Framework Agreement in the flexibility it offers to add new suppliers at any time during the lifetime of the DPS, and the reduced workload for suppliers at initial tendering stage.

Where we are now

The Participation DPS continues to be under development. At present, it is due to be launched in 2025.

What activity this will involve

• continued engagement with Scottish Government colleagues and external stakeholders to identify needs and priorities to inform the procurement approach by Scottish Government
• continued engagement with external stakeholders to support sign up to the DPS, with a focus on needs and capacity of smaller, grassroots organisations
• consideration of evidence from engagements to draft specification for the DPS
• issue Invitation to Tender (ITT) 
• evaluation of bids submitted
• post-award work (such as the creation of a buyer guide)
• establishment of DPS

Milestone status

In progress, on schedule.

Milestone: guidance for paying participant expenses and compensating for participant time

Timescales

Early 2024.

Where we started

The absence of an established process for paying participant expenses and compensating for participant has been identified as a key gap in Scottish Government’s approach to delivering inclusive participatory processes. The development of this guidance was taken forwards by the Social Research working group on Participation and Lived Experience.

What changed and why

This has remained a set of activities undertaken as planned.

Where we are now

This guidance was developed and has now been published on the Scottish Government website.

Milestone status

Complete.