Stewart Hamilton
Written 199 posts
Communications and Engagement Officer
Unlocking the Value of Public Sector Data for Public Benefit: Blog #3
12th July 2022
In June 2022, the Independent Expert Group (IEG) came together for the fourth time, as part of our series of monthly meetings. As a collection of experts from different sectors, backgrounds and practices, the group is united in its aim to advise the Scottish Government on how personal dataset-holders in the Scottish public sector can make decisions about how these datasets might be used by the private sector. The group wishes to ensure that whenever this occurs, it has to be of public benefit to the people of Scotland, in ways that promote transparency and trust.
Scottish Government’s Design System – user feedback
11th July 2022
Recently, the Payments Service team completed inclusive testing on their service which has been using the Scottish Government Design System standards. The aim was to understand how accessible the task-based navigation and visual design is for the Payments Service.
Recommendations from COP26
8th July 2022
We’ve had further discussions with round table attendees and relevant digital and climate change experts about the top ideas that came out of each round table theme. After these discussions concluded, each of the top ideas was thoroughly investigated and then presented as recommendations to Kate Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy and Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport. These recommendations that are detailed below, were all accepted by both Cabinet Secretaries.
Design systems save organisations money and time
29th June 2022
Blog by Kevin Allen, User Centred Design team, Digital Transformation Division. What is a Design System? A design system comprises a series of building blocks which have been researched, designed, tested and coded. These building blocks are available online for internal and external developers to use. Having pre-built and tested components drastically reduces expensive development…
SG payments service – Launch of private beta
27th June 2022
Blog by Lesley Allen, Service Owner, and Fiona Maclellan, Senior Service Designer, for the SG Payments Service. On 22 June, the Scottish Government Payments Service officially moved into private beta. Independent Living Fund Scotland, our beta partner, cut the ribbon and successfully made the first of many weekly Bacs payments to Transition Fund recipients. We’re…
CivTech 7 accelerator programme launched
13th June 2022
This year, over £7 million worth of contract opportunities are available for tech entrepreneurs and businesses of any size as part of the Accelerator’s latest round of innovation Challenges. Companies and individuals from across the UK and beyond are invited to develop solutions for 13 new Challenges which have been set by public sector bodies, local councils, charities and the Scottish Government itself.
Unlocking the Value of Public Data – Third meeting of the Independent Expert Group
10th June 2022
Guest blog by Annie Sorbie, Lecturer in Law (Medical Law and Ethics), University of Edinburgh, and Member of the Independent Expert Group for Unlocking the Value of Public Data. The Independent Expert Group met in May for the third of our series of monthly meetings. Our task is to advise the Scottish Government on how…
Developing a Data Transformation Framework
26th May 2022
In Scotland, Public Sector organisations have been creating, using and managing data for many years, and the practices around this have sometimes developed organically meaning there may be a lack of consistency when approaching things like data management, skills and standards.
Data Science Accelerator 2022
10th May 2022
The Data Science Accelerator offers public sector analysts a fantastic opportunity to develop their data science skills through project-based mentoring. Delivered by the Scottish Public Sector Analytical Collaborative (SPACe), the accelerator provides protected time to explore your real-life work challenge with the support of a mentor, or to help others as a volunteer mentor.
Unlocking the Value of Public Sector Data for Public Benefit
6th May 2022
The new Independent Expert Group (IEG) met at the end of March 2022, the first of our series of monthly meetings. For each of these meetings, we aim to write a blog to accompany the minutes, as a more accessible way to get a sense of what we discussed at the meeting, as well as some other initiatives which are influencing our thinking.