Scotland’s Open Government action plan 2021 to 2025: milestones
Milestones throughout Scotland's Open Government action plan for 2021 to 2025.
Part of
Data and digital commitment
Initial milestones
This will be an iterative process. As such, we have set out our plans for the first year, covering 2022.
In 2022, we intend to achieve the following activities, listed under the enabling themes:
Discovery
- make initial steps with CivTech challenge on finding data. We plan to engage with civil society around findability of data as part of this challenge
- pilot Data Maturity Pathways project which will guide six public sector organisations through an end to end journey which:
- defines their objectives for data in line with their business strategy and priorities
- builds better understanding of the components required for maturity pathways for the DTF
User needs
- user research to inform user journeys on www.statistics.gov.scot - and agree next steps on improvements for www.statistics.gov.scot
- agree and establish communications channels and understand user needs. This includes setting up the Data Standards and Open Data Community of Practice
- make initial steps on CivTech challenge on what data people are looking for through the finding public sector data challenge
Identify and share use cases
- identify thematic areas – such climate change and public transport and financial transparency
- we plan to take an initial focus on greenhouse gas emissions datasets and commit to make more of these data and modelling available in an open and reusable format. We will review regularly with Civil Society progress and scope
Longer term activities (4 year plan, to December 2025)
As this will be an iterative process, we have only been specific for Year one of the plan. We would instead wish to review and develop further after year 1 of the plan, when we have a better sense of progress and the direction of travel.
Activities we will definitely be participating in in Year 2 and beyond include:
- development of AI algorithmic register
- further development of Data Transformation Framework
- further development of positive collaborations with others such as CoSLA (Local authority data taskforce) and the Data and Intelligence Network to build the culture of open and transparent use of data
The data commitment supports government openness, transparency and empowerment through open data. The actions align to three overall themes, as recommended by our open government independent reporter: data availability, building internal capacity and understanding external user needs.
Updated milestones 2023
We reviewed our 2022 progress to inform broad ideas for our direction in 2023. We collaborated with our open government civil society lead to refocus these themes from an external perspective. Together, we revised the milestones to shape tangible activities with an improved line of sight to the benefits for society and to making outputs incrementally and openly available. We have built the 2023 milestones iteratively, informed by our previous learning and consequently, not all are linear progressions from the previous work. The data activities link to user needs driven by external requirements covering a wide range of sectors including the third sector, local and central government and the private sector, as well as academia and innovation.
Creating the 2023 milestones has been a valuable process where working openly with constructive challenge has strengthened and focused the data commitment’s work.
Action: Open up data relevant to other open government themes, such as key climate change datasets used by government for modelling and reporting, data on public transport and public sector expenditure
Theme
Internal capacity
2023 milestones
The Scottish Government Data Division will work with the Fiscal Transparency Programme to share best practice and incorporate content on data standards, FAIR and open data principles, specifically within the Data Review Document developed in the alpha phase of the of the Fiscal Transparency Programme and the programme’s Data Strategy.
Update – milestone completed.
Support climate change policy and analytical colleagues to identify the specific data that can be published openly considering existing data and use cases for opening climate data.
Maintain contact with leads developing the Data Strategy for Health and Social Care to ensure guiding principles for relevant data standards are built into implementation plans from early on.
Update – in progress and ongoing. This work continues through a 2024 to 2025 milestone.
Promote lessons learned from Pilot Public Engagement Panel with other OG commitments
Update – in progress and ongoing. This work continues through a 2024 to 2025 milestone.
Action: Run a CivTech challenge to evaluate if technology can make public sector data easy to find, assess outcomes and set out the way forward
Theme
Data availability
2023 milestone
Publicly launch the Beta version of the Dtechtive data discoverability search engine in March 2023 and introduce Scottish Government branding later in the year. With the CivTech advisory group, consisting of public, private and third sectors, create a technical roadmap for developing the open data sources register to assist discovery and publish clear documentation supporting its use.
Update – milestone completed.
Action: Set up the Data Transformation Framework stating what ‘good data’ looks like and the process by which organisations can improve – this focuses on opportunity for organisations to improve data maturity, data literacy and adoption of standards, through collaboration and engagement with local government and other public sector bodies, to be useful for civil society
Theme
Internal capacity
2023 milestones
With the public sector develop and trial a modular data maturity package to offer a self-supporting approach to data maturity and developing Action Plans
Update – in progress and ongoing. This work continues through a 2024 to 2025 milestone.
With public sector organisations develop data maturity pathway products for Data Governance and Data Strategy
Update – in progress and ongoing. This work continues through a 2024 to 2025 milestone.
Provide principles/strategic guidance on use of the 4 foundations to data improvement - Leadership, governance, strategy and discoverability aligning to the pathway products
Update – in progress and ongoing. This work continues through a 2024 to 2025 milestone.
Develop a new data transformation wiki site to gather and publish supporting materials in an open, participative and collaborative way
Action: Review the front end of our official statistics open data publishing platform statistics.gov.scot
Theme
External user needs
2023 milestone
Improve the language used on statistics.gov.scot to increase user engagement and accessibility for users of the site
Update – in progress and ongoing. This work continues through a 2024 to 2025 milestone.
Action: Increase the amount of Scottish public sector open data being published, through collaborations such as the Data Standards and Open Data Community of Practice
Theme
Internal capacity and external user needs
2023 milestones
Run a series of public workshops to include different sectors to test out thinking on areas including overcoming barriers, demonstrating value and communicating open data guidance.
Update – milestone completed.
Start to develop refreshed technical guidance to help organisations understand and realise the benefits of open data and the practical steps to help them on their journey to open up their data informed by public workshop views
Update – in progress and ongoing. This work continues through a 2024 to 2025 milestone.
Use the public sector Community of Practice on Data Standards and Open Data, which is comprised of central and local government and other public bodies to test out thinking for the refreshed technical guidance.
Update – in progress and ongoing. This work continues through a 2024 to 2025 milestone.
Action: Develop a public register of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms
Theme
External user needs
2023 milestones
In February 2023 launch the Scottish AI Register to share with the public examples of AI in use or development across the public sector.
Update – milestone completed.
Provide public facing information regarding the AI being used, the data sets which support it and clear user-friendly descriptions of the process and outcomes. We will also share details of the organisations that have access to the data, and the retention and disposal details.
Update – milestone completed.
Initially share two AI use cases, one from SCRA considering children at risk, and one from the NHS/SG which aims to make access to public services easier for people with disabilities. We will work with colleagues across the public sector to identify and record any potential future use of AI in their on-going work.
Update – milestone completed.
Updated milestones 2024 to 2025
Our new milestones have been developed to reflect our progress and learning within each area of activity. For some of our activities we work with groups and individuals outside government to agree our approach, e.g. the advisory group for Activity 2 on data discovery consists of public, private and third sector organisations. We have engaged more regularly with the volunteer open data community e.g. Open Data Scotland, in 2023 to 2024. We have close links with our open government civil society representative, who provides invaluable advice and constructive feedback on the commitment activities, progress and milestones.
Milestones 2021 to 2025 action: open up data relevant to other open government themes, such as key climate change datasets used by government for modelling and reporting, data on public transport and public sector expenditure.
Theme
Internal capacity
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Continue to support the Fiscal Transparency Programme, climate change policy and other areas relevant to the open government themes to encourage open data reuse and share best practice on data standards, FAIR and open data principles.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Improve our understanding of the technological solutions for deliberation, to support the Scottish Government Participation Framework and to inform potential future applications to expand participation around public good uses of public data and AI.
Milestones 2021 to 2025 action: run a CivTech challenge to evaluate if technology can make public sector data easy to find, assess outcomes and set out the way forward
Theme
Data availability
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Develop a considered approach to dataset sourcing and management for Find.Data.Gov.Scot to improve the discoverability of identified datasets, and by November 2025, add 10 more data sources to Find.Data.Gov.Scot.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Deliver an improved user feedback channel and run workshops with data producers and consumers to identify missing areas, address data quality issues and promote use. Investigate whether Find.Data.Gov.Scot can be linked to the UK Data Marketplace Government Data Catalogue.
Milestones 2021 to 2025 action: set up the Data Transformation Framework stating what ‘good data’ looks like and the process by which organisations can improve – this focuses on opportunity for organisations to improve data maturity, data literacy and adoption of standards, through collaboration and engagement with local government and other public sector bodies, to be useful for civil society.
Theme
Internal capacity
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Launch the data maturity network for cohort alumni on KHub, to provide post-project support and networking, including published resources for data standards and data governance (complete and test by summer 2024).
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Start to develop resources for data ethics, innovation and architecture and provide strategic guidance on the four foundations to data improvement that align to these pathways.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Develop and launch self-supporting data maturity guidance.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Complete cohorts 3 and 4 of the Data Maturity Programme by June 2024, launch cohort 5 in September 2024.
Milestones 2021 to 2025 action: review the front end of our official statistics open data publishing platform statistics.gov.scot
Theme
External user needs
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Initiate and run a discovery, which aims to gain a better understanding of the current service.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Finish / complete discovery and produce a report which advises on options and recommendations for next steps.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): Based on evidence and recommendations from the discovery, either move to next steps in improving the service in an alpha phase; or make small / limited changes to the service.
Milestones 2021 to 2025 action: increase the amount of Scottish public sector open data being published, through collaborations such as the Data Standards and Open Data Community of Practice
Theme
Internal capacity and external user needs
Milestone (2024 to 2025): publish the independent report and recommendations outlining a more strategic approach to supporting open data in Scotland.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): during the remainder of 2024 initiate a project plan, and develop a roadmap, with the outcome of creating a clear vision for purpose-driven impactful open government data in Scotland and priorities for its implementation.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): set up an open data external reference group to provide accountability to the open government data commitment and to foster and long-term collaborative approach to open data.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): build on the series of open data events held with the Better Data Community of Practice in March 2024 with a series on data standards in May 2024 and encourage knowledge sharing about common challenges in making data better, smarter and more open.
Milestones 2021 to 2025 action: develop a public register of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms
Theme
External user needs
Milestone (2024 to 2025): begin a phased approach to the public sector wide roll out of the Scottish AI Register.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): initial stage to produce SG specific guidance and support materials for the creation of AI.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): identify existing use cases and new SG AI projects to be added.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): work with SG Data Science colleagues to ensure the adequate recording of all corporate AI use.
Milestone (2024 to 2025): work with procurement colleagues to build guidance into purchasing processes.
Milestone (2024 to 2024): continue promotion of the product through the Scottish AI taskforce to help future roll out.