Open Government action plan 2021 to 2025 - commitment 5: participation
Overview of the participation commitment, including milestones and their co-creation process, alongside progress reports submitted throughout the action plan.
Progress to September 2024
Commitment 5: participation
Objective
Developing knowledge and skills across Scottish Government (SG).
Milestone
Delivery of Participation Handbook training sessions across SG.
Progress and next steps
As we previously reported, the introduction of a Participation Framework Agreement (to assist staff with procuring high quality participatory work) has led to a change in the staging of activities. Staff training will need to be designed around the Framework Agreement, as this will be a key resource for staff.
It is proposed that training is finalised and delivered once the Framework Agreement is in place, which is currently estimated early 2025. This can align with the upcoming Policy Profession Standard work on public participation.
Revised training content will be agreed and developed with civil society members. This will be rolled out to Scottish Government staff and incorporated into relevant internal guidance.
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Developing knowledge and skills across SG.
Milestone
Delivery of in-depth participation training to SG Social Researchers.
Progress and next steps
Training is being developed for SG Social Researchers, in collaboration with the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC), on specific areas associated with participation, such as methods and ethics.
This follows the delivery of an initial, general training session on participation and lived experience to a cohort of SG Social Researchers in April.
Status
On schedule.
Objective
Developing knowledge and skills across SG.
Milestone
Monitoring and evaluation of participation work.
Progress and next steps
The Open Government team recruited a social research intern via the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS). Work on the project began in June and will conclude at the end of September.
The research project examines how can public participation have meaningful impact on policy making. This research question was agreed with members of the participation commitment working group.
The Open Government team has supported the delivery of the research project and a report will be published in the autumn.
As previously reported, it is proposed that key aspects of this work are integrated into the Participation Framework Agreement, as a mechanism that can introduce some standardisation to monitoring and evaluation of commissioned participatory work.
Discussions are ongoing about the possibility of developing an SG monitoring and evaluation approach to public participation.
Status
In progress, some aspects on schedule.
Objective
Developing knowledge and skills across SG.
Milestone
Development of an SG wide procurement framework for participation work.
Progress and next steps
The Participation Framework Agreement continues to be under development. It is It is estimated that the Framework will be awarded in spring 2025.
Over the summer, the Open Government team have held a series of external engagement sessions, hosted by Supplier Development Programme (SDP). These are available to watch on SDP’s YouTube account.
The purpose of the supplier engagement events are to meet with organisations interested in bidding on the Framework, to ensure we create a Participation Framework Agreement that supports organisations to deliver high quality participatory work with adults. This has helped us to understand the sector, their needs and preferences, and feedback will inform the development of the Framework specification.
The Open Government team continues to engage with targeted policy areas to gain advice and expertise to inform the Framework’s development. This has focused on the needs of smaller, grassroots organisations to be able to apply or operate within a procurement Framework.
Next steps involve collating this information, drafting the specification, and developing evaluation questions for the Invitation to Tender (ITT).
Timelines to issue the Invitation to Tender have been revised to be estimated at winter 2024.
These timescales have changed from summer 2024 so that the team can undertake further required engagement with specific supplier groups and internal stakeholders.
Future timescales will be dependent on feedback we receive from external engagement sessions, on the number of suppliers who choose to bid to the Framework and on the time needed to evaluate these bids.
Status
On schedule.
Objective
Developing a Participation Handbook.
Milestone
Embedding equalities and an inclusive approach.
Progress and next steps
A new iteration of the Participation Handbook was published in March 2024.
This iteration seeks to better reflect practical guidance around equalities and inclusive approaches.
We co-wrote a blog with Deciding Matters – the organisation that designed and facilitated several public workshops to help us gather recommendations on improvements that could be made to the guidance. The blog outlines the approach, learnings and reflections taken to gather the views, opinions and ideas from the public. Deciding Matters share several learning and development takeaways they had with regards to accessibility and inclusion when running the workshops.
Scottish Government will respond to the final report findings, detailing how the outputs from the workshops were integrated into the next iteration of the guidance.
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Institutionalising Participatory and Deliberative Democracy.
Milestone
Beginning processes of change to make participation routine and effective.
Progress and next steps
Work to date has involved addressing a foundational recommendation advised by the working group – to establish a central team at Scottish Government with responsibility for participation.
This work is ongoing and milestones to measure progress against further, early recommendations will be outlined following the outcome of this work. Its outcome is dependent on the availability of additional resources.
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Developing an active and inclusive Open Government Network for Participation.
Milestone
Diversify and increase capacity of the Open Government Civil Society Network.
Progress and next steps
A new member of staff within the open government team will take this action forward as part of their role to improve communication around Scotland’s Open Government work.
This will involve identifying any learning from the mapping work being undertaken by the UK Open Government Network as part of the website’s development, and working collaboratively with civil society to identify key areas of work to progress as part of this activity until the end of the plan.
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Review of consultations - spend, approach, monitoring.
Milestone
Re-structure of internal guidance (Saltire):
- evaluate the effectiveness of the new Saltire guidance structure
- make improvements iteratively to ensure the guidance is fit for purpose
Progress and next steps
Guidance on public engagement and participation was developed collaboratively and published internally in November 2023.
Feedback has been positive and no updates have been made thus far. We continue to gather feedback and look for opportunities to update and improve this guidance
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Review of consultations - spend, approach, monitoring.
Milestone
Launch of new digital engagement service offer:
- plan, deliver and evaluate our first map-based consultation and rolling this platform out to the rest of Scottish Government
- develop guidance to support the effective use of this platform
- plan, deliver and evaluate further crowdsourcing activities, and reviewing guidance to ensure effective use of this platform
- update internal Scottish Government guidance on “online engagement”
Progress and next steps
The first map-based consultation was published on Citizen Space in August 2024, this will run until October 2024. Feedback is being collected from respondents as part of the consultation process and will be evaluated.
The identified crowdsourcing activities have been postponed or alternative engagement methods selected.
A review of “online engagement” guidance is yet to be undertaken.
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Review of consultations - spend, approach, monitoring.
Milestone
Analysis of evaluation data:
- develop and implement a consultation improvement action plan for Scottish Government based on evaluation recommendations
- share learning across SG and agencies
Progress and next steps
An improvement action plan was developed based on 15 recommendations identified during the evaluation process. We are currently implementing this action plan.
The recommendations covered both consultation papers and the Citizen Space consultation platform.
The key themes identified for improvement were:
Consultation papers:
- complexity
- length
- clarity
- restrictiveness
Citizen Space consultation platform:
- navigating
- formatting
- reviewing
Status
On schedule.
Objective
Review of consultations - spend, approach, monitoring,
Milestone
Launch of new digital engagement hub:
- develop and implement an external communications strategy to raise awareness of SG consultations and digital engagement activities
- work to improve how consultations are displayed on gov.scot to improve inclusivity and user journey
- explore the required infrastructure needed to host an engagement hub on gov.scot
Progress and next steps
An external communications strategy to raise awareness of SG consultations and digital engagement activities was developed early in 2024, phase one of this plan has been implemented and evaluated and we are now in phase 2 of this plan.
Phase 1 focused on raising awareness of digital engagement channels and activities and included involved
- reviewing our current approaches
- better understanding the needs of our audience
- optimising current digital engagement communication channels (consultation newsletter, @ScotGovEngage on X and the participation blog) and messaging externally
Phase 2 continue to builds on phase 1
- increasing our reach by working closely with policy and communications colleagues to utilise SG’s wider communication channels
Design work for gov.scot improvements is underway
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Supporting PB to take an Open Government approach.
Milestone
Monitoring the completion of local authorities delivery of 1% of budgets through participatory budgeting (PB) and supporting local authorities to develop new ways to measure the success of PB.
Progress and next steps
We continue to work with COSLA to support all Local Authorities to reach the 1% milestone. Scottish Government are awaiting the publication of 2023/24 figures but early indications suggest that this has again been met.
As previously reported, we are also working with COSLA to further develop the 1% target to take into account other forms of success in PB, such as best practice. The timeline to develop a paper to outline options available have been revised. This is to be drafted late 2024/early 2025.
Status
On schedule.
Objective
Supporting PB to take an Open Government approach.
Milestone
Support the National Participatory Budgeting Strategic Group (NPBSG) as they provide the strategic direction for participatory budgeting across Scotland.
This includes work to raise awareness of the National PB Framework’s priorities and indicators for success, championing open government values and principles
Progress and next steps
The group’s annual report was published on 17 June 2024. There are currently no further meetings scheduled for the group.
Status
On schedule.
Objective
Supporting PB to take an Open Government approach.
Milestone
Support the expansion of the NPBSG remit and function, in collaboration with Scottish Government’s Open Government team.
Progress and next steps
A workshop was held on the 14 June to discuss progressing this action and what the newly formed group’s remit and reporting instructions will include.
Officials are in discussions on the next steps for this in relation to resource and capacity.
Status
On schedule.
Objective
Supporting PB to take an Open Government approach.
Milestone
Embed Open Government principles in Green Participatory Budgeting:
- continue to explore the use of PB as part of our wider support for community led climate action
- identify opportunities to support Green PB programmes across Scotland
- continue to work with COSLA to support local authorities’ PB initiatives, including Green PB
Progress and next steps
Work is continuing with the Just Transition PB Fund in the North East of Scotland for year 3. £1 million capital has been approved by the cabinet secretary with responsibility for the Just Transition.
The fund launched on the 22 July 2024, with applications opening on the 19 August 2024.
Status
On schedule.
Objective
Embedding Open Government principles in the Community Empowerment Act parliamentary review.
Milestone
Review of Section 10 of Community Empowerment Act.
As part of the Scottish Government’s review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, the Open Government values, principles and approaches will be applied throughout the process.
Progress and next steps
Scottish Government are drafting a report that will inform the approach taken to the Review. Timescales to share these findings have been amended from summer 2024 to early 2025 to take into account further drafting requirements on this aspect of the review.
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Embedding Open Government principles in the National Performance Framework refresh.
Objective
Using best practice approaches to support high quality engagement and participation, while undertaking work to review the National Outcomes.
Milestone
Analyse outputs from research and engagement undertaken (consultation, call for evidence, desk-based research, stakeholder meetings) and submit a statutory report to the Scottish Parliament by Spring 2024.
Progress and next steps
A report was laid in Scottish Parliament on 1 May 2024 and published on the NPF website.
The report describes the process followed to review the National Outcomes and summarises the evidence analysed. Parliamentary scrutiny will conclude in autumn with a debate.
The Finance and Public Administration Committee launched an inquiry into the report on 13 May.
Status
Complete.
Objective
Embedding Open Government principles in the National Performance Framework refresh.
Objective
Using best practice approaches to support high quality engagement and participation, while undertaking work to review the National Outcomes.
Milestone
Publish a suite of Impact Assessments undertaken as part of the NPF Review and a thematic gender review.
Progress and next steps
The impact assessments were published on the NPF website on 10 July 2024.
The gender review will be published in autumn 2024.
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Embedding Open Government principles in the National Performance Framework refresh.
Objective
Using best practice approaches to support high quality engagement and participation, while undertaking work to review the National Outcomes.
Milestone
Develop an implementation plan and set of resources to support the use of the reviewed NPF.
Progress and next steps
A project has been initiated to take forward the development of the implementation plan and resources.
The aim is to publish these alongside the revised NPF.
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Embedding Open Government principles in the National Performance Framework refresh.
Objective
Using best practice approaches to support high quality engagement and participation, while undertaking work to review the National Outcomes.
Milestone
The NPF Expert Advisory Group to continue to advise on the Review and on the development of the implementation plan.
Progress and next steps
An Expert Advisory Group workshop, hosted by the University of Glasgow, took place in April. A further workshop took place virtually in June.
Status
In progress, behind schedule.
Objective
Improving children and young people’s participation in decision-making and policy design
Milestone
Support the implementation of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024.
Progress and next steps
The Act commenced on 16 July 2024. Work continues to support Public Authorities, including the Scottish Government. A number of resources are available to support decision makers to engage with children and young people.
Status
Complete.
Objective
Improving children and young people’s participation in decision-making and policy design.
Milestone
Raise awareness and support policy teams within SG to use the Children and Young Persons Participation Framework and build capacity.
Progress and next steps
No further update from previous progress report (June 2024). Our work to promote the Framework includes the development of a training page on our internal professional learning platform Pathways. Over 100 colleagues have attended the training and information sessions so far.
This training helps colleagues to understand the background to, and purpose of, the Framework and how to engage with contractors via the mini-competition process.
We have also included signposting to the Children and Young People (CYP) Participation Framework Buyer Guide, professional learning and reading to support colleagues to develop their understanding of meaningful engagement with children and young people.
Status
On schedule.
Objective
Improving children and young people’s participation in decision-making and policy design.
Milestone
Grow the evidence bank of examples of how Children and Young People have engaged in decision making process within policy design.
Progress and next steps
We continue to grow the Evidence bank to ensure policy teams have access to historical and current examples of CYP participation in policy making. The bank will be linked to SG’s internal Public Participation group to ensure wider access.
Status
On schedule.
Objective
Improving children and young people’s participation in decision-making and policy design.
Milestone
Support the Children and Young Peoples annual meetings with the Cabinet and the Executive Team (ET).
Progress and next steps
The ET Takeover was successfully held in June. We are now preparing for the annual Cabinet meeting in November.
The Scottish Youth Parliament publish the speeches MSYPs have delivered at Executive Meetings as blogs with reflections on the experience from the MSYPs involved. You can read those delivered in 2024 below:
- end gender-based violence
- increase mental health training and education
- invest in and protect youth work services
Status
On schedule.
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