Open Government Partnership

Community conversations on trust in government with SCDC: snapshot summary

December 8, 2025 by Open Government Team No Comments | Category Uncategorized

Over the last week or so the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) team have been speaking to people from across Scotland to hear their views on what trust and transparency in government means to them.

While the process is very much ongoing, we wanted to provide a brief snapshot of our discussions so far.

what does trust mean to you?

People told us about the importance of honesty, mutual respect, accountability and delivering on promises. Sometimes not doing these things is what leads some people to distrust certain organisations or institutions.

We found that for some people, distrust is created when they are not being listened to or heard around how decisions are made.

Participants told us that these frustrations, and trust in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) process itself, can be addressed by government ensuring engagement activity translates into meaningful action and delivery.

Is it okay for government to change their plans?

People expressed the importance and desirability for government to be able to make changes as situations shift, as long as the reasons were clearly and openly communicated.

Next steps

While these facilitated discussions on trust in government are concluding, we are supporting local community groups and equalities and lived experience organisations to have their own conversations.

Meanwhile, we are writing up these discussions to make sure everyone’s views are represented as we move into the next stage of the process.

Find out more about the next stage of the process.

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This blog tells the story of the Scottish Government’s Open Government Partnership journey.

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