Digital Office Annual Plan 2024 - 2026

The Digital Office for Local Government is delighted to launch their updated action plan for 2024/2026.

This plan details the evolving role of the Digital Office and action plan to ensure that Scottish local authorities have the infrastructure, support and capabilities in place to increase the pace of digital transformation, and to deliver on the ambitions outlined in the National Digital Strategy. The Digital Office will deliver on this purpose by operating at national level, sector level and council level, through fulfilling four key roles:

• Contributing to National Policy and Strategy Development where there are digital or data dependencies.
• Assurance of National Digital Programmes
• Digital Transformation Programme Management
• Local Capability Building within Scottish Local Authorities

Martyn Wallace, Chief Digital Officer:

"Since the creation of the Digital Office eight years ago, our society has undergone significant changes, especially post-COVID. These changes include higher customer expectations for efficient and user-friendly digital solutions, the need to bridge the digital divide created during the pandemic, an increase in poverty in some areas due to cost of living crisis, and the demonstration of the need more than ever of a fast and stable connectivity across Scotland.

It has become essential for the entire Scottish Public Sector, not just local government, to collaborate more effectively using data and intelligence to support our society with Digital Solutions. In addition to this, the rapid advancement of technology and the mixed reactions to the rise of Artificial Intelligence has created a new era which the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government now operates in.

The Digital Office Action Plan demonstrates how we will collaborate with our public sector partners not only in Scotland but across the UK. Fundamentally we will deliver benefits through digital by focusing on an approach of human by default, digital and data by design. This involves working with Scottish Innovation Centres, including DataLab, and the Digital and IT industry to support ongoing transformation efforts and deliver significant benefits for our Scottish Local Authorities as we embrace the next chapter of the Digital Evolution.

Colin Birchenall, Chief Technology Officer:

“The rate of change of digital technology continues to accelerate at an exponential rate, and significant advances such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things provides Councils with new opportunities to redesign services to improve productivity, improve customer experience, and improve outcomes. The opportunities that are available however, come at a time when local government sector is faced with unprecedented challenges.

The Digital Office Action Plan covers how we at the Digital Office will support and complement the work of Councils to support them with digital transformation; from facilitating the development of a shared vision and working with COSLA and Scottish Government to develop a new Digital Strategy for Scotland, helping Councils to develop their own capability and skills for digital transformation, facilitating shared learning, delivering sector-wide digital programmes, and enabling greater re-use of common solutions.

The Action Plan aims to be clear about the value that the Digital Office can bring, and to set out some clear priorities, however we know that we need to be responsive to evolving needs of Councils and so will continuously work with Councils and partner organisations to continuously review sector-wide priorities.”

Read Action Plan

If you would like the Action Plan in an alternative format, please get in touch at info@digitaloffice.scot