Open Government Partnership Scottish Action Plan

3. National Action Plan development process

Developing the plan and building a movement

This is Scotland's first Scottish National Action Plan. it is a clear illustration of the Scottish Government's commitment to work in partnership with Civil Society.

The 2014 referendum on Scottish independence marked a high point in citizen engagement, fostering expectations of a more open and inclusive style of governance. A dialogue developed among citizens and communities, as well as voluntary organisations, trade unions, faith groups and political activists, about ways of harnessing the energy for democratic renewal.

This plan acknowledges that surge of democratic energy in Scotland and builds upon work undertaken in 2015 for Scotland's involvement in the UK OGP process and to ensure Scotland's distinctive voice contributed to the third UK National Action Plan.

A series of roundtable events were organised to draw up 30 potential commitments, based on the crowd sourced, UK-wide Civil Society OGP Manifesto which had more than 250 contributions.

These 30 detailed commitments were posted online and were the subject of consultation across the Civil Society network - using a new Scottish section on the Open Government Network ( OGN) platform. This has been developed along with the Scottish OGP network. It now has more than 100 members. The timeline was published on the OGN's website and is kept updated as timescales shift. The Scottish Government established an OGP steering group comprising representatives from Government and Civil Society.

When First Minister Nicola Sturgeon spoke at the major civil society event, 'The Gathering', in February 2016 she highlighted the importance of the Open Government agenda to her Government. At the same event there were 3 separate workshops which directly addressed the opportunities presented by the Open Government agenda.

Following selection as a Pioneer government in April 2016 the challenge over the summer of 2016 has been to review the 30 commitments and to incorporate as much of the energy and effort from those into the five now identified, and to do so in partnership with Civil Society.

Implementation and continued engagement

Throughout the life of this plan we will continue to work with Civil Society to provide oversight and to grow the movement among our partners in order to build a more democratic, open and transparent society.

We will also work with the independent reporters who will be appointed to monitor the progress and success of the plan to ensure that we learn as we go into the next cycle of Open Government planning so that we have continuous improvement.