Public dialogue on the use of data by the public sector in Scotland

Ministerial foreword

With some of the richest data in the world, Scotland is well-placed to unlock the full potential of this asset to drive ethical innovation in our public services and our economy, to achieve better outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Data is the golden thread that enables us to understand and respond to the greatest challenges we face as a society, for instance, driving our cross-sector response to the global pandemic and the Ukraine crisis.

The ethical and innovative use of data supports the our vision to be a wealthier, fairer, greener and more equal country. It underpins our ambition to create an Ethical Digital Nation, where “people can trust public services and businesses to respect privacy and be open and honest in the way data is being used”; where children and vulnerable people are protected from harm; and where data use is safe, transparent and accountable.

Trust in the secure and ethical use of public data is our guiding ethos.

Building on our democratic traditions, we will empower citizens to work with the Scottish Government and our partners across the sector to shape ethical principles that reinforce robust legal safeguards to protect citizens’ data. Their participation, oversight and scrutiny will ensure due diligence, amplify their voice in decision-making and strengthen the legitimacy of digital and data-led activities.

The people of Scotland will be the guardians of our approach to how citizens’ data is used. This is why the Scottish Government and Research Data Scotland convened a pilot public engagement panel to explore the ethical implications of sharing citizens’ data in the public interest.

As you’ll read in this report, the engagement drew out rich and nuanced insights from the public participants on a complex and vitally important subject. There is a strong realisation among the participants of the potential benefits from ethical data-sharing, and the important role the public can play in helping shape how data is used by the public sector.

Reassuringly, the findings highlight a good level of confidence in the safeguarding of data by the Scottish public sector. I also welcome this opportunity to seek public scrutiny on data-led activities that were delivered under the challenging circumstances of recent years, and look forward to learning from this feedback.

I am grateful to all members of the panel who have contributed to this pilot. We will review the ethical guidelines they have produced, and reflect on the emerging findings from this dialogue.

This report also complements our project to unlock the value of Scotland’s public sector personal data, when used with or by the private sector. Taken together, this provides a solid foundation on which to build further engagement with the public to create conditions that enable data to be used in ethical, trustworthy ways for the benefit of all.

Richard Lochhead, MSP

Minister for Business