Digital

  • We made a content design system in 4 weeks

    18th March 2025 by

    Guest blog post from Andy Robertson, Senior Content Designer, Social Security Scotland. We built a design system for our intranet. It creates a consistent user experience for our colleagues processing benefit applications. The design system is a library of reusable content and patterns. Here is an overview of our approach to plan, write and build...

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  • ScotAccount recognised for having significant impact on public services

    21st February 2025 by

    Blog post by Scottish Government’s ScotAccount team. The ScotAccount team were delighted to join colleagues from Disclosure Scotland at the Holyrood Connect Digital Health and Care Awards in Edinburgh on 18th February 2025. The teams were thrilled to be short-listed for the Digital Service Transformation Award for their collaborative delivery of ‘PVG Online’.  The Digital...

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  • Iteration and continuous improvement – a Blockbuster story?

    12th February 2025 by

    Guest blog from Jayne Purcell, Service Design Lead, Social Security Scotland. Iteration and continuous improvement are words I hear a lot. What I have observed over the years is that iteration and continuous improvement usually means iterating and improving the current design, with not enough effort put into exploring the future and the vision to...

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  • Refreshing Scotland’s Digital Strategy: Process blog part 1 (of a few)

    27th January 2025 by

    Blog post by Becca Fairless, head of digital strategy and policy, Scottish Government.  In 2021 we launched our Joint Digital Strategy for Scotland –  A Changing Nation – how Scotland will thrive in a digital world. For the first time it brought together the work on digital transformation happening in local authorities with the work...

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  • How text message notifications helped more than 2000 Social Security Scotland clients use unspent benefit payments

    22nd January 2025 by

    Guest blog post from Jake Keith, Content Designer, Social Security Scotland. A Social Security Scotland SMS (short Message Service) pilot led by the Product and Design team has helped hundreds of people access cash paid to them but left unspent. A total of 2,205 clients have spent money on their prepaid card since the start...

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  • Designing with purpose and empathy

    15th January 2025 by

    Guest blog post from Emma Jones, Content Design Lead, Social Security Scotland. Good content design is about making the user experience simple.  We need to design to help people do what they need to do, and no more. We need to focus on the purpose. Finding (and sticking to) the true purpose can be hard...

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  • Foundations of the Digital State – Independent research report published

    18th November 2024 by

    Blog post by Becca Fairless, Head of Strategy, Policy and Communications, Digital Directorate.  OverviewThis is a summary of the independent research report “Foundations of the Digital State” by Gordon Guthrie, a Digital Fellow of the First Minister’s Digital Fellowship Programme during 2023-2024. The research aimed to lay out a transformative roadmap for how governments imagine...

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  • A shared destiny for public sector data

    18th October 2024 by

    Blog post by Shona Nicol, Head of Technical Data Policy, Data Division, Digital Directorate. As a data professional, it can sometime feel hard to get others interested in data. Perhaps like many in this profession, I can often express the importance and value of data for good in an overly technical way. However when our...

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  • Moving open data forward – the Benefits, Challenges and Opportunities of Open Data for Producers, Users and Leaders

    8th May 2024 by

    This blog has been written by Martin Macfie, Head of Open Data in the Digital Directorate’s Data Division, in which he discusses recent work to better understand the benefits, challenges and opportunities of Open Data. What we’ve been doing We need to be more strategic in the way we approach the publishing, messaging and culture...

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  • Are you a transformational leader passionate about data in Scotland?

    24th April 2024 by

      Blog by Tom Wilkinson, Chief Data Officer, Scottish Government Public sector data is a vital component in making sure that services for the people of Scotland are delivered efficiently and effectively. In an increasingly complex world, data plays an ever-expanding role in shaping and supporting economic, societal and environmental transformations. To support the public...

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