Open Government Action Plan commitment 4: be more accountable for public services

Engagement

Public & Partnership working

In recognition of the need to ensure a strong balance of contributions and perspectives from across both the public sector and wider civic society to act as an sounding board to help inform delivery against Commitment 4, a Collaborative Working Group (CWG) was established in early 2019.  Alasdair Hay, ex Chief Fire Officer for Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, was appointed as Chair. 

Partners have been involved in different ways throughout delivery, including in particular through consultation on the design and delivery of the public and practitioner engagement programme led by We Are Snook from Autumn 2019-Summer 2020 (delays due to the impacts of the on-going pandemic).  This has included, for example: participation at two design workshops to inform drafting of the YouGov survey – undertaken by CAS – and initial events planning for the wider face-to-face engagement sessions.  Some partner organisations also supported Snook to engage diversity groups through small focus groups, in advance of the national engagement workshops.  Following the engagement events with members of the public from across Scotland, Snook ran a co-production workshop with CWG partners to begin analysis of event findings.

A core delivery team for Commitment 4 – including representatives from Mydex CIC and Dem Soc, and the CWG Chair – has continued to meet regularly to maintain oversight of delivery and planned next steps.