Publication - Minutes

Online Identity Assurance Programme Board papers: May 2018

Published: 24 May 2018
Directorate: Digital Directorate
Topic: Business, industry and innovation, Public sector
Date of meeting: 23 May 2018
Location: St Andrew's House, Edinburgh

Minutes, amended remit and terms of reference, findings from service design research, updated programme plan and communications update.

Attendees and apologies

Attendees:

Colin Cook, Director Digital, Scottish Government (Chair)
Esther Gunn-Stewart, SOLACE
Doreen Grove, Open Government, Scottish Government
Penni Rocks, eHealth, Scottish Government
Ruchir Shah, SCVO (by phone)
Gavin McLachlan, University of Edinburgh (Chair, Expert Group)
Douglas Shirlaw, COSLA

Apologies:

Andy McClintock, Chief Digital Officer, Scottish Government)
Ken MacDonald, Information Commissioner's Office
Geoff Huggins, Director for Health and Social Care Integration, Scottish Government

Online Identity Assurance (OIA) project team:

Roger Halliday, Chief Statistician and Head of Performance
Susie Braham, Strategic Lead
Mike Crockart, Delivery Lead
Gavin Ross, Programme Manager
Ross Clark, Communications and Engagement

Items and actions

1. Welcome and introductions

1.1. Colin Cook welcomed all to the meeting, including welcoming Gavin McLachlan, the new Expert Group Chair.

2. Note and actions from the first meeting

Paper: first meeting minutes

2.1. Progress against actions were noted, with all previous actions completed (see Actions Log).

2.2. The minutes were approved.

2.3. Doreen Grove clarified that her job title is Head of Open Government at the Scottish Government.

2.4. The Board discussed the issue of proactive publication of documents given the commitment of the programme to work in the spirit and practice of open government.

2.5. Both Ruchir and Doreen emphasised that publication of documents in advance of meeting allows Board members to discuss and bring feedback from their own stakeholders.

2.6. It was agreed that the aim would be to publish all papers from the programme unless there was a specific reason not to. Some non-exhaustive examples of reasons for non-publication might be concerning: specific advice to ministers; specifics around preparation of commercial contracts; or details of security architecture.

Action Point 23/5/18-1: OIA team to prepare document classification information for use by the Programme Board, and for this to be circulated.

3. Amended remit and terms of reference

Paper OIAPB-04: Amended Remit and Terms of Reference

3.1. The amended remit and TOR was agreed by the Board.

4. Discovery outputs

Paper – OIAPB-05: Highlights from the Technical Discovery Reports
Paper – OIAPB-06: Findings from Service Design Research
Expert Group Feedback (see Annex A)

4.1. Mike presented the outputs from the Discovery – Technical Options. conducted by ASE/Consult Hyperion, then Susie presented the outputs of the Discovery - Service Design, conducted by We Are Snook. This was followed by a general discussion on the themes raised by the research.

4.2. Gavin McLachlan then introduced feedback from the Expert Group, following their meeting on 21 May, where they considered the outputs from the research (see Annex A).

4.3. The Board noted the feedback from the Expert Group and agreed that it provided suggested focus for the OIA team to deliver the next phase of work.

4.4. The Board provided additional comment in the following areas:

further research is needed with Service Providers and citizens who will be interacting with services
it is recognised that the programme is not a single service use case but that there needs to be a number of different approaches to establishing identity, with connection and dialogue around the overarching programme
in order to proceed with the alpha, further work is needed to define the service questions that an alpha would answer, and that the OIA team should engage with service providers to do this
the Board would like to see the OIA team engage initially with colleagues in Health, Social Security and Local Government, around their potential participation in the alpha phase. Local Government participation should include a myaccount and non-myaccount local authority, and North Ayrshire (specifically relating to work on customer transactions) was highlighted as a potential participant
the OIA team should engage with Improvement Service and UK Government Digital Services (GDS) to help scope and plan the alpha phase. Any engagement with GDS should be consistent with the new Scottish Government/GDS Memorandum of Understanding
a full understanding of programmes across the public sector which use identity is required to make best use of resources and the opportunities available.
the benefits of delivering the programme require to be articulated clearly as it moves forward.
clear messaging is required to articulate the outcomes from the programme in simple terms, and ensure that people have the opportunity to engage with the work, for example to citizens who may access services. The use of personas would assist with this dialogue

Action Point 23/5/18-2: OIA team to engage with colleagues in Health, Social Security and Local Government as potential Service Providers, to include within the alpha phase. This should include work to further define the service questions that an alpha would answer.

Action Point 23/5/18-3: OIA team to engage with Improvement Service and GDS to help scope and plan the alpha phase.

Action Point 23/5/18-4: OIA team to develop communications and messaging, aimed at clear methods of communicating the aims, activities and benefits of the programme.

5. Updated Programme Plan and Moving towards Alpha

Paper – OIAPB-07: Updated Programme Plan

5.1. Susie presented the updated Programme Plan and outlined plans for the forthcoming Stakeholder Group meeting, in June, with a Ministerial briefing meeting scheduled to take place shortly after.

5.2. The Board were content to note that the discovery phase has achieved the outcomes as planned and that the programme could move forward to the alpha phase, as described in outline in the updated Programme Plan.

6. Communications Update

Paper – OIAPB-08: Communications Update

6.1. Ross Clark presented the communications update to the Board, which the Board noted. In the discussion that followed, the Board recognised the importance of communications with many diverse parties to the success of the programme.

6.2. Doreen Grove proposed that a commitment tied into the Online Identity Assurance work could potentially be included in Scotland’s second Open Action Plan; noting that OGP commitments are open for anyone to suggest and the public will prioritise them.

6.3. Susie highlighted that communications will continue to be an important part of the programme and that there are plans to recruit additional resource to focus on communications and engagement within the team.

7. Next steps

7.1. The next meeting is proposed to be scheduled for October 2018 and dates will be circulated.

Actions log

Number	Owner	Description	Progress	Status
23/5/18-1	OIA Team	OIA team to prepare document classification information for use by the Programme Board, and for this to be circulated.		Open
23/5/18-2	OIA Team	OIA team to engage with colleagues in Health, Social Security and Local Government as potential Service Providers, to include within the alpha phase. This should include work to further define the service questions that an alpha would answer.	09/7/18 Workshop scheduled for 25 July 2018. Ongoing	Open
23/5/18-3	OIA Team	OIA team to engage Improvement Service and GDS to help scope and plan the alpha phase.	20/6/18 Workshop with Improvement Service. Ongoing.	Open
23/5/18-4	OIA Team	OIA team to develop communications and messaging, aimed at clear methods of communicating the aims, activities and benefits of the programme.		Open
26/1/18-1	OIA Team	OIA team to update the Remit and Terms of Reference with the changes indicated.	23/5/18 Remit updated and accepted by Board.	Closed
26/1/18-2	OIA Team	OIA Team to invite a representative from COSLA to the Programme Board.	23/5/18 Douglas Shirlaw invited and attended.	Closed
26/1/18-3	OIA Team	OIA team to consider how to approach additional external experts.	23/5/18 completed, OIA team contacted a number of organisations and individuals with specific expertise in this area during the Discovery phase.	Closed
26/1/18-4	OIA Team	OIA team to amend the stakeholder plan with the changes proposed.	23/5/18 Updated and published.	Closed
26/1/18-5	OIA Team	OIA Team to circulate the proposed membership for the Expert Group to the Programme Board.	23/5/18 Completed following first meeting.	Closed

Annex A

Feedback from Expert Group to Programme Board

1. User Research

service providers: more work is required and there should be a greater balance between service provider needs and user needs
personas and use cases: further development will be important in the alpha phase
data matching: further work is required to define what is actually being provided and to whom at each step
service specific research: need to narrow our research and focus on developing things such as verifications or permissions for each service.
scope: are we interventionist to get a better service where appropriate and potentially change what is being provided?

2. Technical Research

there are not enough commoditized solutions in the market. The market of identity providers for public service has not matured enough that there is a clear leader or lead methodology
architecture principles: further work is required to understand how they would fit into Scottish Government Digital First Service Standard
Digital First: there is a concern that not every part of wider public sector has bought in and close adherence may make it harder to implement alongside other principles
solutions architecture: further work is required on architecture in terms of how the data will be used and how any solution will work. The next phase should see this translated into some options to be presented.
myaccount: need to do more work to assure where myaccount sits in any potential outcome from the programme.

3. Preparation For Alpha

involve local authorities: the alpha should include one or more, potentially two at different stages of readiness for implementation
Scottish Government Programmes: the group recognised that there may be challenges but expressed hope that larger programmes such as social security or eHealth are in position to participate
phased alpha: the alpha could be split into two either sequentially or to run alongside
non-technical, focusing on the user journey using storyboard or other methods
a more technical piece of work to test the full service
alpha should include a test or assessment of the full Service wrap: including support for users and service providers, test of all use cases and personas; test of plans and method for the “safety net”: for accommodating users unable to use the service or service failure cases
interactions with existing programmes – future work for OIA with service providers could be part of as part of existing initiatives or consultations
broader considerations – alpha needs to include legal, governance, transparency, privacy and accountability as well as technical and user elements
a set of measureable goals (Key performance indicators) should be set early in the programme to inform the service design, architecture, communications and other aspects of the programme. These might include targets for availability, access success rates, numbers of citizens participating, number of service providers

4. Communications

terminology: need to be handled carefully as terms used in discovery could be taken out of context
need to work on a “compelling argument” to ensure take up with service providers, including local authorities.