Digital

  • Basic Law-Making For Legislative Computer Systems – Part 4

    25th September 2023 by

    Blog by Scottish Government, Research Fellow, Gordon Guthrie.  Gordon is a Research Fellow at the Scottish Government under the First Minister’s Digital Fellowship Programme. All opinions in this blog are his own and they do not represent Scottish Government policy. This is the fourth of five articles outlining the research of the Blus project – Basic...

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  • Unlocking the Value of Data Programme report published

    12th September 2023 by

    The Scottish Government commissioned this multi-disciplinary group to explore the issue of private sector use of public sector personal data in Scotland, as public sector data controllers had identified the need for clearer guidance in this area. The report proposes high-level principles and a series of recommendations to guide ethical access to public sector personal data in Scotland.

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  • Basic Law-Making For Legislative Computer Systems – Part 3

    11th September 2023 by

    If we are to make the production of digital systems explicit we need to every participant to be able to understand their role – and critically that means making the technical decisions visible and comprehensible.

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  • Basic Law-Making For Legislative Computer Systems – Part 2

    4th September 2023 by

    This is the second of five articles outlining the research of the BIus project – Basic Law-Making For Legislative Computer Systems. Read the first here – it outlines the problems of connecting slow legislative iteration to fast digital development processes.

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  • Basic Law-Making For Legislative Computer Systems – Part 1

    28th August 2023 by

    We know that the law and government is also an iterative process. Laws are passed, and retrospectively amended. Acts of parliament (primary legislation) grants Ministers powers to make and remake law by orders (secondary legislation) and civil servants the powers to write and rewrite ordinary regulations.

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  • Data Maturity programme update

    11th July 2023 by

    Providing a Data Transformation Framework (DTF) that will meet all the data improvement needs that an organisation might want to address is a challenging proposition. To help with the early stages of developing the DTF, we wanted an approach that would provide focus, identifying shared needs and creating support that was useful straight away.

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  • ScotAccount – pilot with Disclosure Scotland

    23rd June 2023 by

    The digital identity service, ScotAccount, went live in partnership with Disclosure Scotland, as a pilot, which we call ‘private beta’ at the end of February 2023. ScotAccount has been integrated into Disclosure Scotland’s new online service, providing users with digital access to their disclosure results. This supports delivery of the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020.

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  • Data maturity information sessions for public sector organisations

    9th June 2023 by

    Many public sector organisations know they want to use their data more effectively, but are unsure where to start. It can feel too difficult to tackle but if it’s not addressed, over time, it can become a large issue that impacts on wider business outcomes. The Data Maturity programme we run with the Scottish public sector can help organisations understand what they want to achieve with data, where they are now, and how to set achievable outcomes.

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  • Independent Expert Group delivers Unlocking the Value of Data report

    10th May 2023 by

    I write this blog post at the end of the week in which the Independent Expert Group (IEG) on Unlocking the Value of Data (UVOD) delivered our final report to the Scottish Government. The IEG has been in existence for just over a year, and comprises a multi-stakeholder group of experts from different domains and disciplines united by our interest in public sector personal data and how it can be accessed by the private sector.

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  • Digital Inclusion Symposium in Scotland: Thriving in a digital world

    3rd May 2023 by

    The symposium provided an opportunity for Scotland to showcase its digital inclusion work such as the Connecting Scotland programme and highlighted its ambitions in developing Scotland as an ethical digital nation. 

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