Distributed Ledger Technologies in Public Services

1. Executive Summary

This research report was commissioned by the Scottish Government Digital Directorate in September 2017. Its remit is to investigate the potential benefits of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), to the Scottish public sector, thus informing Scottish Government's evolving digital strategy.

Digital life relies on the exchange of information. When data is shared, it may be infinitely duplicated, modified and used in ways unintended by its originator. Identity theft, cybercrime, fake news, and misuse of intellectual property are commonplace, because we have a limited toolset to govern contemporary models of data use and exploitation.

In Scottish public services we identified many processes which continued to rely on the use of paper or web-based substitutes for paper processes. We also identified the importance of effective and appropriate information sharing in enabling cross-government collaboration to improve services for citizens.

DLT makes it possible to register and record, share and transfer value or valuable information in a secure and tamper proof way, to only the intended recipients. DLT is a superset of the technologies popularised as "blockchain". It represents a new opportunity for the creation of natively digital public services.