{"id":1173,"date":"2025-08-07T12:28:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T11:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/?p=1173"},"modified":"2025-08-07T12:28:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T11:28:30","slug":"a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister&#8217;s Democracy Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK, spoke on the importance of trust in politics and institutions to an audience of civil society representatives, faith leaders, trade unions, and politicians at the First Minister\u2019s democracy gathering in April. This event saw a commitment to taking action to safeguard Scotland\u2019s democracy.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"eop\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1176 alignright lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"picture of Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-768x1151.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-1025x1536.jpg 1025w, https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-342x512.jpg 342w, https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-280x420.jpg 280w, https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03.jpg 1281w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 200px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 200\/300;\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">We had a chance to catch up with Sarah a couple of months after the event to find out her thoughts on the discussion and the questions that have stuck with her.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"eop\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">Read the full conversation below.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"eop\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Now that you\u2019ve had some time to reflect, what are your thoughts on the gathering?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It was a much more reflective conversation than some of the accompanying media commentary might have suggested. There were people in the room with deep and wide experience of working to build trust between individuals, communities, and institutions and they were able to speak very eloquently to the complexity and nuance of that work. Many of us urged appropriate caution in speaking for those not there. So overall it felt like quite a self-aware audience, thoughtful about what we are seeing now and what that might mean for the future.<\/p>\n<p>It was good to hear the wide recognition that there is no quick fix to issues of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>equality and inclusion<\/li>\n<li>disinformation<\/li>\n<li>trust in politics<\/li>\n<li>public participation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, if there was one silver bullet we wouldn&#8217;t need to get together and wrestle with these issues. \u00a0However, there are some things we know about that would make a difference &#8211; for example, to help rebuild trust in institutions. We know that partly because of the experience of people in the room, but also thanks to local and international evidence about what works.<\/p>\n<p>I left the event not knowing whether to be encouraged by the existence of that evidence or deflated at the reminder that we are not yet taking appropriate actions in Scotland as consistently or as confidently as we could and should be.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>You spoke at the gathering about trust, why do you think it\u2019s so important that people can trust their government?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>We increasingly understand that trust in institutions and in political actors is a critical condition for a functioning democracy. Trust is important for good policy-making and governance as it confers legitimacy on those who govern us. Psychological trust in government is also critical for people to feel they can participate in the political process. This increasingly matters because of the complex nature of the crises that governments are trying to address.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to these big policy challenges requires the engagement of citizens. We saw this during the COVID pandemic. Government required the legitimacy to act that was conferred on it by the people of Scotland. Ministers were not relying on force, but on our willingness to follow guidance and understand why government was acting as it was. It\u2019s important that this relationship operates as a two-way thing, recognising that we are have a role to play in a healthy democracy.<\/p>\n<p>At Carnegie UK, trust is one element of what we call \u201cdemocratic wellbeing\u201d. Democratic wellbeing comes about when people feel they have a voice, can influence the decisions that affect them, and can trust that democracy has their best interests at heart.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve seen that when you have a healthy democracy this feeds through to support other elements of your wellbeing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>social<\/li>\n<li>environmental<\/li>\n<li>economic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If the other elements are addressed, then those in turn feed into positive democratic wellbeing.\u00a0It\u2019s a virtuous circle \u2013 or not.<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s tempting to believe that trust in politics and institutions is undermined primarily by individual behaviours and scandals, we actually know that these things come and go. More fundamental behaviours such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>lack of transparency around decision making<\/li>\n<li>poor civic engagement<\/li>\n<li>failing to communicate the impact of reforms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are the practices that really erode public trust.<\/p>\n<p>We know that too many people today believe that the system just doesn\u2019t work for them. This is a factor in driving people politically in the direction of those who appear to have simple answers to complex questions. We also know that policy making needs to be done differently, and at Carnegie UK <a href=\"https:\/\/demos.co.uk\/collaborative-democracy-network\/\">we\u2019ve been working<\/a> to explore some of the innovations needed to put people at the heart of policy making.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"paragraph\" style=\"margin: 0cm;vertical-align: baseline\"><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><b><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">What are your thoughts on ways in which we can be sharing power and fostering a sense of community?<\/span><\/b><\/span><span class=\"eop\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">Two dimensions to that come to mind. One draws on recent evidence from the <\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/worldhappiness.report\/ed\/2025\/trusting-others-how-unhappiness-and-social-distrust-explain-populism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;color: #467886\">2025 World Happiness Report<\/span><\/span><\/a><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\"> which identifies a connection between low trust in politics and institutions and weakened or fragile social trust and social capital. It suggests that strengthening trusted relationships between people is important, rather than focusing solely on formal political power and decision-making processes. We need to be taking a holistic approach to what supports our sense of belonging and identity in terms of relationships with fellow citizens and the people elected to represent us.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"eop\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">At Carnegie UK we\u2019re also interested in how government itself becomes more accessible, accountable, and responsive to citizens. We\u2019ve done some <\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieuk.org\/programmes\/engaging-democracy\/\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">work on more deliberative approached to democracy<\/span><\/a><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\"> and we want to challenge the idea that representative and deliberative democracy are somehow in competition. Really these approaches strengthen each other. The more you can see policy challenges as belonging to everyone and look for how we can work together, the more we can begin thinking about how to achieve the flourishing vision of society that people want to be a part of and work towards.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"eop\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">We need to see people in communities as actors with agency. To come back to your question about sharing power, it&#8217;s important to be clear about what the government can do, and what it needs to support individuals and communities to do \u2013 because they are the best placed.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"eop\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">If Government puts itself in the position of having to have all the answers (which is one manifestation of power-hoarding) then it is much more exposed when it can\u2019t fix and deliver everything at its own hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">Again, ill-informed commentary often suggests that people just want things done to or for them, but evidence \u2013 <\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieuk.org\/publication\/engaging-democracy-programme-insight-summary\/\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">including our own<\/span><\/a><span class=\"normaltextrun\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\"> \u2013 suggests they do want to be part of the conversation. However, this engagement needs to be done well and in a manner that is prepared to cede some control over what the conclusions may be. Ultimately this approach is to strengthen people\u2019s trust in the democratic process, and this is good for everyone, government included.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"eop\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Three months after the gathering what are the questions you\u2019re still thinking about?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019ve been thinking about the question of \u201cwhat next?\u201d and that question is becoming increasingly urgent as time passes.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s an important conversation to be had about the health of our democracy, as well as a need to consider how you take that conversation out of the room and engage widely with the citizens of Scotland.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also a question about who is best placed to convene that broad conversation as it continues.\u00a0 There was a sense in Glasgow that government might feel it has to take the lead convening role, but I suspect that for this to be a useful conversation, it\u2019s important that government isn\u2019t perceived as holding or controlling the dialogue. This is where the Open Government Partnership and other players can be helpful.<\/p>\n<p>As part of our work on wellbeing approaches, I\u2019m also thinking about what it means for everyone to have a shared vision of the future of the country, informed by a good understanding of what it is like at present.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, something that has really stuck with me are the voices in the room saying \u201cthis is the work we already do, and we know what\u2019s effective and yet it\u2019s really difficult to get support, funding, and attention to do something at a greater scale\u201d. If we\u2019re serious about growing and strengthening this work that builds connections and trust then we really need to invest and scale up for the long term. We do know what is needed. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oecd.org\/en\/publications\/oecd-survey-on-drivers-of-trust-in-public-institutions-2024-results_9a20554b-en.html\">OECD report on the drivers of trust<\/a> is very clear. It\u2019s not rocket science.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Find out more an stay in touch<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in more reflections on the First Minister\u2019s Democracy Gathering you can read Juliet Swan\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/06\/06\/hope-plus-delivery-equals-trust\/\">Hope plus delivery equals trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to stay in the loop on the topics of trust, transparency, and Open Government in Scotland then <a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/notifications.gov.scot\/trust-and-transparency-scotland\">subscribe to our community bulletin<\/a> published in collaboration with civil society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK, spoke on the importance of trust in politics and institutions to an audience of civil society representatives, faith leaders, trade unions, and politicians at the First Minister\u2019s democracy gathering in April. This event saw a commitment to taking action to safeguard Scotland\u2019s democracy. We had a chance to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":735,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister&#039;s Democracy Gathering - Open Government Partnership<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK talks about trust and the questions that have stayed with her since the Democracy Gathering.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister&#039;s Democracy Gathering - Open Government Partnership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK talks about trust and the questions that have stayed with her since the Democracy Gathering.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Open Government Partnership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-07T11:28:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1281\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Open Government Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Open Government Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Open Government Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#\/schema\/person\/366803204125e3f1b9bf08b861f0e2ee\"},\"headline\":\"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister&#8217;s Democracy Gathering\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-07T11:28:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/\"},\"wordCount\":1451,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-200x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/\",\"name\":\"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister's Democracy Gathering - Open Government Partnership\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-200x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-07T11:28:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#\/schema\/person\/366803204125e3f1b9bf08b861f0e2ee\"},\"description\":\"Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK talks about trust and the questions that have stayed with her since the Democracy Gathering.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03.jpg\",\"width\":1281,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"picture of Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister&#8217;s Democracy Gathering\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/\",\"name\":\"Open Government Partnership\",\"description\":\"Scottish Government Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#\/schema\/person\/366803204125e3f1b9bf08b861f0e2ee\",\"name\":\"Open Government Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/475\/4758f9aca278ebe73818f54b39dc2170x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/475\/4758f9aca278ebe73818f54b39dc2170x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Open Government Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/author\/opengov\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister's Democracy Gathering - Open Government Partnership","description":"Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK talks about trust and the questions that have stayed with her since the Democracy Gathering.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister's Democracy Gathering - Open Government Partnership","og_description":"Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK talks about trust and the questions that have stayed with her since the Democracy Gathering.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/","og_site_name":"Open Government Partnership","article_published_time":"2025-08-07T11:28:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1281,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Open Government Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Open Government Team","Estimated reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/"},"author":{"name":"Open Government Team","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#\/schema\/person\/366803204125e3f1b9bf08b861f0e2ee"},"headline":"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister&#8217;s Democracy Gathering","datePublished":"2025-08-07T11:28:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/"},"wordCount":1451,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-200x300.jpg","articleSection":["Uncategorized"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/","name":"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister's Democracy Gathering - Open Government Partnership","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03-200x300.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-07T11:28:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#\/schema\/person\/366803204125e3f1b9bf08b861f0e2ee"},"description":"Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK talks about trust and the questions that have stayed with her since the Democracy Gathering.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/08\/SarahDavidson-LargeWeb-03.jpg","width":1281,"height":1920,"caption":"picture of Sarah Davidson, Chief Executive of Carnegie UK"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/2025\/08\/07\/a-conversation-with-sarah-davidson-on-trust-and-the-first-ministers-democracy-gathering\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A conversation with Sarah Davidson on trust and the First Minister&#8217;s Democracy Gathering"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/","name":"Open Government Partnership","description":"Scottish Government Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#\/schema\/person\/366803204125e3f1b9bf08b861f0e2ee","name":"Open Government Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/475\/4758f9aca278ebe73818f54b39dc2170x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/475\/4758f9aca278ebe73818f54b39dc2170x96.jpg","caption":"Open Government Team"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/author\/opengov\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/735"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/open-government-partnership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}